Elsa's Anatomy
by Midori Akiko
Summary: Anna and Kristoff are med students at Arendelle Medical Center, the same hospital where Dr. Elsa Casimir, the Ice Queen, also works. Unfortunately for Anna, Elsa is her mentor and the lone obstacle between her and graduation. What she doesn't realize, is that the Ice Queen is crushing on her, hard. Modern AU with Doctor!Elsa. Rated M for future chapters. Elsanna, no icest.
1. Pleasant Dreams

**_Summary: Anna and Kristoff are med students at Arendelle Medical Center, the same hospital where Dr. Elsa Casimir, the Ice Queen, also works. Unfortunately for Anna, Elsa is her mentor and the lone obstacle between her and graduation. Rated M for future chapters._**

* * *

The chime on her smartphone off, indicating that she received a new email. The redhead scooped up her phone and pressed the required digits to unlock her phone.

"Hey Anna!" a stocky blonde boy called to her. "We just got our rotation schedules!" She huffed at him.

"Well Kristoff, if you had just shut up for a little bit longer I would've been able to figure that out on my own." She wagged her phone in front of his face. The boy just responded with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, okay, now let's see your schedule, I got most of my first choices so I think we should be at most of the same places together," he said happily. Anna returned to her phone and clicked on the new email.

_"**Hello Miss Stevens,**_

**_Please see the following schedule for your assigned rotations._**

**_Sincerely,_**

**_Gerda Hart  
_****_Clinical Director  
_**_**Spitsbergen School of Medicine**"_

The end of their second year was drawing to a close. Halfway through medical school meant that students were about to spread their wings…a little. They would no longer be trapped in a stuffy lecture hall, but now sent out to learn the tools of their trade, so to speak. Where you got sent could determine your happiness, or lack thereof, for the next two years.

Anna quickly opened the attachment and scanned the list. She read them off to Kristoff.

"I've got two blocks at Lapland, a block at home, a block off…." she trailed off and looked at Kristoff. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Looks like we've got most of them together," a grin slowly spreading across his sun-tanned face. Anna returned the grin.

"Yeah! This is gonna be awesome!" and they shared a leaping high five (well, Anna leapt. Kristoff just held his hand up).

Anna stopped celebrating. Something nagged at her. She quickly scanned the schedule again and let out a groan. Kristoff responded with raised eyebrows.

_I knew it was too good to be true. I specifically left it out of my choices because I did NOT want to be there._

_"_I got Arendelle. For two blocks." She let out a defeated sigh.

"Yeah, me too. Spring of fourth year. At least we'll be there together. We can bitch and moan about it at happy hour."

She looked up at his hopeful face, countering with her best "oh really" face.

"I don't think there's going to be too many happy hours, Kristoff."

* * *

That had been a year and half ago. Anna had done her best to learn from her mentors, honing her skills as a soon-to-be physician. And while she may not have been the best in her class, she'd be damned if she didn't at least try to be. But the rotation she had been dreading most was here.

**_Arendelle Medical Center._**

The largest hospital for miles. And she would be here for the next eight weeks. She sighed. Worst of all, she had the dreaded Ice Queen as her mentor. She was only spoken of in hushed whispers in class and angry tirades under the influence of alcohol. She had already failed two students this year. At least Kristoff was going to be here too, but that lucky butthole somehow managed to get Dr. Kay as his mentor, who was only the single sweetest man in the hospital.

_The Ice Queen. Oh god._

Anna shivered. I have to get through this. This woman is the single thing standing between me and graduation. She gritted her teeth. She could do this. Anna turned out the lights and went to sleep, deciding that a good night's rest was necessary to make a good impression.

* * *

Anna walked into the entryway of hospital. It was dark cavernous entrance, with flaming lanterns adorning the walls. That's charming.

"YOU!"

An outstretched finger with a blood red nail was pointed directly at her chest. She looked at the person the finger was attached to.

It was an older woman, taut, pale skin pulled over her bony face. Red lipstick adorned her lips and heavily black shadowed eyes leered at her. She wore black leather pants with calf length boots. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a tight bun. Anna was reminded of Cruella DeVil's younger sister. On the woman's long white coat "Elsa Casimir, MD" was embroidered.

Anna warily looked into the woman's dark eyes.

"Yes?"

The woman's eyes narrowed.

"You are my new intern, are you not?" Anna gulped and nodded. Her head felt heavy.

"Well why are you standing there?! I need an elephant!" she screamed at Anna. "NOW!"

Somehow, that made sense. Yes yes, Dr. Casimir needs an elephant. I can get it. It's in the medicine cabinet.

Anna let out a little whine and looked around for the nearest medicine cabinet. The room spun slightly.

"NOW!" the angry voice yelled again. Anna took off down a hallway. Her legs felt heavy. She couldn't get traction on the floor.

_Find a med cabinet. Get elephant. I can do this. I can do this. _

She looked behind her. There was only darkness. She turned straight ahead once more. Darkness. Anna's breath quickened.

"NOW!" the piercing voice screamed.

"I don't know what to do!" she screamed, except no sounds came out. She put her hands over her head and collapsed to the floor. "I don't know what to do…" she gasped.

She closed her eyes.

And opened them into bright sunlight. _Shit, that was terrible. _Her pulse was still racing and there were actual tears sitting in her eyes.

She reached her right hand out and groped around for her cell phone. _5:54am_. She dialed.

"KRISTOFF!"

"Shit, what? What the hell was that for?" he sounded almost like a wet cat. Anna's lip quivered slightly.

"I just had the most terrible dream. Well, it wasn't really a dream, more like a nightmare really, but I was in the hospital and the Ice Queen was screaming at me to get her an elephant and I couldn't find one and then the lights went out-"

On the other side of the line, Kristoff had laid his phone on the bed, putting it on speaker and going to take his morning pee. He let her just continue when she did this; it wasn't like he wasn't going to get a word in edgewise.

"-and then yeah. So that happened. Kristoff?"

"Yo," he replied, quickly picking up the phone.

"So what do you think?"

He rubbed his eyes.

"I think," he hid a yawn behind his hand, "that you need to chill out. Seriously. And stop drinking hot chocolate so close to bedtime. The glucose fries your brain while you're sleeping or something."

Anna huffed. Kristoff continued.

"Look, get ready. We can go to Pabbie's and have a nice, relaxing breakfast before we go in. Okay?"

"Okay," though she wasn't sure anything could make her previous night's vision any better.

"And Anna?"

"Yes?"

"I'm in the room across the hall, for Christ's sake, next time just walk over."

* * *

**_I have this head canon that Anna is a girl who swears a lot, drinks beer and loves football, even though she doesn't know what's going on. She also tends to blurt out overdramatic things. Some of this story may or may not be based on real life experiences. :) Hope you enjoyed so far!_**


	2. Your Majesty

So Anna was wrong. But she definitely wasn't going to tell Kristoff that. Breakfast at Pabbie's was wonderful. Pabbie ran a small shop right below their apartment, and his silly antics always made her giggle. Plus, she loved that he kept a bag of chocolate chips below the counter for people with "special requests" for pancakes.

Now armed with a cup of caffeine and a stomach full of pancakes, Anna felt ready to face her new, positively frightening mentor.

_Shit. No. You can do this Anna. Coat? Check. Properly Dressed? Check. Notebook and pens? Check. Coffee? Check. Courage? Ah, well fuck it. Let's just wing it._

She and Kristoff strode into the hospital front doors together. At least there were no creepy lanterns, Anna noted. Large black letters spelling **Arendelle Medical Center** were adorning the wall behind the receptionist.

"Excuse us, we're new med students looking for Drs. Kay and Casimir."

The receptionist gave them the appropriate floors and they walked off to the elevators. Kristoff pushed 3 while Anna pressed the button for the 7th floor. He slid his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze.

"You'll do great, I know you will." The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Anna turned and pulled him into a quick hug.

"Thanks Kristoff," she said beaming. "I'll see you at home right?" She caught his nod and smile as the doors closed.

_Ah Kristoff, what would I do in this world without best friends like you? _In all the years they'd known each other (which was their first semester of undergrad), he'd learned more about her than anyone else. Some of those things she wished he hadn't learned. Anna laughed. He'd taken care of her the first night she she got so drunk she threw up, and she would pick him up when he'd be too trashed to drive home. More often than not, they found themselves in silly predicaments, but that's what best friends do together, they learned.

Most people assumed they were dating, and they even tried it, going as far as having sex one night they were both wasted, but they knew it wasn't right. It wasn't awkward after either, they just reverted to their previous relationship with no kissing. And so here they were, best friends. Hetero best friends who had no romantic interest in each other. No friends with benefits, no FTFs, absolutely no strings attached. _Take that, 21st century standards_, she smirked to herself.

The doors opened once again and Anna stepped out, looking through the directory to guide her. She finally found the name she was searching for and turned down the left hallway. She walked on until she found the door she was both looking for and dreading.

_Elsa Casimir, MD_

_This was it. _Anna drew in a deep breath and prepared herself for whatever witch, real or not, was waiting for her on the other side of the door. She held her hand up, bracing herself to knock. But she couldn't do it.

"Knock," a voice said from behind her. She turned around.

"Just knock." The voice had come from stocky man behind her. "Why aren't you knocking? Do you know how to knock?"

Anna's mouth opened and closed like a fish. From anyone else, asking something like that would piss her the hell off. But for some reason, she just got the feeling of genuine concern from the man in front of her. His voice was light and gentle, and his curious look was comforting.

"Are you Elsa's new student?" he asked. Anna nodded. She looked him up and down. He was fairly young, maybe late twenties, wearing thick black glasses, with short cropped hair, chinos and wearing a white coat.

"Ah," he said, catching his mistake. "I'm Olaf. Olaf Zelenski. I'm the pharmacist on Elsa's team." Anna managed to find her voice again.

"Nice to meet you," she said, shaking his hand. "I'm sorry, I'm just nervous." Olaf nodded with understanding.

"Most of Elsa's students are, but she's really nice and caring, you'll see."

Anna couldn't tell if he was being sarcatic or genuine. And with that, he knocked on Dr. Casimir's door.

"Come," a voice said on the other side. Olaf swung the door open with gusto.

"Hey Elsa!" he called with a grin on his face. She greeted him with a small smile.

"Hello Dr. Zelenski-Olaf," she corrected herself, remembering his preference first names.

"I brought your new med student in-" he motioned Anna in…and Dr. Casimir's smile slid to a frown, her eyes narrowing. _Hello to you too, your majesty._

"See you at rounds, Elsa!" Olaf called, slamming the door shut as he skipped out.

Anna got a good look at her new mentor. She definitely was not at old as her imagination made her to be, but she was still intimidating. Anna studied her. Platinum blonde, almost silver hair, tied up in a braided bun. Perfectly sculpted eyebrows framing cerulean eyes, complete with Maybelline-long eyelashes. Small amounts of blush over perfect cheekbones, and rosy lips covered with gloss. A perfectly white coat over a pressed oxford shirt. She barely looked older than Anna, twenty-eight tops. She suddenly felt like a country hick in front of her, completely outclassed. _Do I bow? What do peasants normally do in this kind of situation?_

The woman looked up at her. _Damnit, and those eyes are like some Iceman shit or something, cause I swear I'm now frozen. Scary ass woman._

"Are you going to sit down?" she said expectantly with an icy tone. Anna lurched forward.

"Of course, yes, I-yes," she was fumbling over her words and steps at the same time. _New skill attained. _Anna sat in one the chairs in front of the desk.

"I'm Anna Stevens, from Spitsbergen School of Medicine," she began, but Dr. Casimir stopped her with a waved hand in front of her.

"I'm finishing some things right now. Just sit there and study or something until I'm done," she said in a clipped voice. Anna nodded silently.

_Well that had to be a new record. One sentence in and I'm already halfway to failing this block. Shit. Godamnit. _The real Ice Queen might be younger and prettier, but she was still just as crap-your-pants scary.

Anna looked around, studying the office. _She did say to study. _It was a simply adorned office, with modern glass shelves, all with medical texts weighing them down. The walls had certifications plastered all over them. _Spitsbergen School of Medicine. She's an alum! _Anna thought back. She never met her at school. Dr. Casimir didn't look that much older than her, but to have graduated and finished residency already, she's either a genius or has Benjamin Button's disease.

Anna fidgeted with her fingers nervously. _Calm down, Anna, you can do this. Just think before you speak. You know all the correct answers. You can think your way through this. Yup, she could get through this, then have some lunch. Rinse, repeat, recycle. Easy._

_"_So what would you like to learn?" Dr. Casimir had finally looked up from her paperwork.

"How to make ramen burgers!" Anna shouted out happily. Dr. Casimir's eyes widened_._

_SHIT. SHIT ANNA. WE JUST WENT THROUGH THIS. _Anna cleared her throat.

"Ah-actually, I would like to learn how to read an EKG better and titrate various emergency drips." She listed off the various meds.

The blonde nodded.

"I'm sorry about my little outburst, Dr. Casimir-" the older woman held up a hand and cut her off once again.

"When we're in private, you may call me Elsa," she said curtly, and Anna nodded, "but on the floor you must refer to me as Dr. Casimir." Anna nodded again.

When other people ask to be called by their first name, it usually made Anna feel closer to them. This time, it only made her feel as if a chasm had been drawn between them.

_This was going to be a long eight weeks._

* * *

_****__**I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. This story is going to be a little slow, so I hope you can be patient with me. :) Thank you so much for following and reviewing!**_

_**I was kind of tired of all the "Anna falls in love at first sight with Elsa's beauty thing", so I tried something a little different. If you have any questions about the terminology, I can try explain some stuff, but I'm assuming most of you watch House or something and have a grasp on some of the words.**_

_**Also for those of you wondering, Anna and Kristoff are in their final year of med school, so they're going to be around 25-26.**_


	3. Worst First Ever

**_There is a bit more terminology and medical shorthand in this chapter, so I'm putting a short glossary at the end for those of you that are curious. Most of the words can be inferred form context though. Enjoy!_**

* * *

"UGH." The empty bottle slammed onto the table, quickly followed by Anna's head. Today was horrible. Her first day could not have possibly gone any worse.

"That bad huh?" Kristoff smiled. Anna peeked an eye at him.

"You have no idea."

* * *

After her lapse in judgement, Anna was determined to just keep her mouth shut as she followed Elsa, er, Dr. Casimir, around on rounds. She thought her outburst in the office was the worst of it.

She was very, very, wrong.

Anna met the rest of the Telemetry team. Olaf was there, who nudged her and gave her a wink. Olaf then introduced her to Mr. Oaken, chief nurse, a large burly man with an equally large mustache. He greeted Anna warmly, finishing off every sentence with "ya."

Next was Dr. Flynn Ryder, the super sexy doctor who was probably too old for her and partnered with Elsa. He had wavy black hair, pushed back from his face and a charming smile. He shook Anna's hand and she felt herself swoon. _Helloooo Prince Caspian._

Then there was Sven. Anna missed his last name, but he was the person who handled all the insurance things for the patients. A quiet man who was sharply dressed in a black suit, his face was framed with a strong jaw. Anna couldn't help but notice the wedding band on his left hand. He didn't say much, and kept to himself almost the entire time.

Finally, she was introduced to Hans Schmidt. If she thought Flynn was hot, Hans must be lava, or a hot stove, or something. Cause he was hawt. She shook his hand and felt redness filter up her chest to her ears. _God, this team is straight out of "ER" or something. How are they ALL this gorgeous?_

"Hi, I'm the resident-"

"Clown," Flynn cut in, and Anna couldn't stifle her giggle.

"I'm the resident here," Hans said again, undeterred by Flynn. "Don't worry," he whispered to Anna, "just let them do all the talking and you'll be fine." Anna nodded.

Hans' plan might've worked, if it weren't for Dr. Casimir's questions. Her non-stop questions. Every round she peppered Anna with a volley and if Anna didn't have an answer, she'd yell, "Look it up!" This promptly sent the redhead scurrying around the unit trying to find a computer or medical texts.

They finally made it to the last room. Anna glanced at her watch. 3:30pm. Soon they'd be done with afternoon rounds. _And I can get out of this pressure cooker._

"-very well, continue the Lovenox, but we're going to need to bridge before discharge. Let's not have any bleeding patients here." Anna picked up the vestiges of the conversation. Elsa was speaking. Heads around her all nodded.

"Anna!" _Oh shit. _Fingers tensed as they prepared for the incoming onslaught.

"This patient can't be bridged to warfarin upon discharge. Why?"

The question was met with a blank stare. Anna turned to find the nearest medical textbooks. But somehow, her heel was caught on something, a wire, a chair, she had no idea. All she knew was she was pitching forward, the force of gravity ready to slam her face into the cold, cold tile. She threw her hands out to grab something, anything.

Grab something they did. She had managed to get fistfuls of Mr. Oaken's scrubs, but the elastic waistband could not possibly compete with the weight of a skinny redhead girl tripping.

And so Anna succeeded in pantsing the head nurse of the Coronary Care Unit on her first day.

* * *

Kristoff roared with laughter.

"Shut up!" Anna tried to yell over him, but it was useless. She put her head back on the table. Pantsing someone had to be a new low for her. She still had _PTSD_ visions of those reindeer boxer shorts.

* * *

Her cheeks burned as she remembered the reactions that followed. Mr. Oaken's faced flushed redder than his already windburnt skin as he quickly gripped for the top of his pants. Flynn and Hans roared with laughter, pretty much exactly like Kristoff was doing at the present moment. Sven covered his mouth and hid his smirk. Elsa just glowered at Anna. _Beautiful demon._

Her legs splayed out in various directions, papers scattered and hands grabbing a man's pants was the last thing she wanted the her mentor to see, but there she was. Dr. Casimir just stared at her, cheeks slightly red, eyes wide as Anna scrambled to stand up. Anna wasn't entirely sure if Elsa was blushing from embarrassment or flushing from anger.

Anna stayed ten feet behind the group after that and didn't even enter the next room, instead choosing to hover by the doorway, minimizing her chance to destroy something else.

She silently followed Elsa back to the office, head down, and sat in a chair. Desperateto look anywhere but at her mentor, she stared around the room. At the black desk lamp, at the landscape painting on the wall, at the picture of Elsa and a guy. She studied the picture. It was Elsa, with a young man. She was smiling and his hand was wrapped around her waist. Anna wondered if that was her boyfriend.

"Congratulations," Elsa said in steely voice, drawing Anna out of her reverie. "I don't think we've ever had a student sexually assault a staff member."

Anna opened her mouth to say something, but closed it. _Shut up Anna. Take your lumps now. _She just nodded.

"Perhaps one of the prerequisites should be a course in grace and elegance." Anna winced. _That stung._

_"_I will see you tomorrow," Elsa said with finality, waving her off. "I want a 1,500-word essay on workplace etiquette and professionalism by Wednesday." _There went Happy Hour._

Anna nodded and silently exited the room.

* * *

"UGH." Anna said again, the embarrassing memories re-flooding her vision. Kristoff held out another bottle to her.

"Here, I prescribe another beer to rid you of this affliction!" He chuckled.

Anna smiled at him. _If only. _She was definitely not looking forward to tomorrow.

The next few days were equally bad, if not worse. Okay, maybe not worse than pantsing someone, but definitely not better.

* * *

Surprisingly though, the next morning was largely uneventful. Anna showed up early, went through all the relevant charts, took notes, accompanied morning rounds and was now getting lunch. _Halfway there. _Sure, she had no answers for most of Elsa's questions, but she'd kind of gotten used to just turning around and looking for the answer. She'd actually learned a lot.

She picked up her tray and looked around for Kristoff. If she was lucky, he'd be on lunch break too. It was a madhouse. Doctors, nurses, staff were all mixed in with patients attempting to get food. Anna couldn't see Kristoff's big blonde head anywhere.

"Hey Anna!" she turned toward the voice. It was Olaf.

"Hi Dr. Zelenski!"

"Olaf, call me Olaf, and where are you sitting today, young maiden?"

Anna giggled slightly and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well then you must accompany us," he said jubilantly. He led her to a table with Elsa, Flynn, Hans, Oaken and Sven.

"Look who I found!" Olaf nudged her to the table.

"Hi everyone," she gave a soft wave. Various nods and greetings were given her way as she sat down.

"So," Flynn said with a grin, "looks like today is pretty calm, huh?" Anna blushed. She doubted anyone would be forgetting about yesterday anytime soon.

"Oh," she remembered, reaching into her bag, "I have something for you Mr. Oaken." Anna presented him with a small box of chocolates.

"My apologies for yesterday," she held it out in front of her with two hands, eyes down. A large laugh brought her eyes back up.

"You are nice girl, ya?" he said with a big smile, and he took the chocolates. "Do not worry Miss, such bad things will happen."

The rest of the table added their encouragement, except Elsa. Anna looked over to her. She was resting her chin in her fingers, elbow propped on the table. Her face wore a look of confusion and bemusement. Anna knew that look. Elsa was studying her. But when Anna made eye contact with her, Elsa slowly turned her head to focus on whatever topic Flynn had now switched the topic to.

"I can't just wear my loafers to work tomorrow, Flynn!" Hans' voice was a little louder than everyone else's.

"Geezus, Hans, I said I was sorry. Can't you just throw them in the wash?" Flynn looked slightly amused.

"What?!" Hans said with absolute disgust. "You can't just wash genuine Italian suede," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "it was gummed to softness by toothless Nepalese women! Washing it will completely ruin the fabric integrity!"

Eyes all around the table rolled.

Anna giggled. Hans, she had learned, was an OCD metrosexual, and combined with the effortless cool of Flynn, lunch was never boring.

* * *

The week passed in more or less the same manner, minus revealing anyone else's boxers, and Anna's hopes about actually passing the block had gone up tenfold. Since she actually did something right that day.

It had to do with her weird habit. Whenever it was time to move on to the next patient, she liked to linger around the patient, just long enough to look at them, as if to be reminded of who they really were: a person, not just some notes on a computer.

Today though, when she looked upon James, the young boy with a newly implanted pacemaker, she stopped. On his arm, she saw little red bumps. All over his neck too. She pulled the bottom of his jaw down. His tongue was looking swollen.

"Doctors!" All heads turned towards her. "I think he's having a reaction!"

Elsa spoke up first. "Olaf! What's wrong with his chart?!"

He was flipping through his tablet. "Okay, okay, shit! He's got an allergy to penicillin. Must be cross reacting with the cefazolin they're running now! I'll be right back!" He turned and ran out the door.

Oaken was already clearing room along the boy's IV line, prepping various flushes. Anna heard Elsa's voice again.

"Flynn! I don't want him coding on me! What's his stats?"

"Pressure's dropping Elsa, we need an Epi drip before his throat closes." The machine beside the boy started to beep loudly.

"YOU!" _Oh god. _She had visions of her nightmare as she turned to Elsa.

"Go help Olaf! I want that drip now!" Anna ran out, looking for the nearest medicine cabinet. She looked left, then right. _Fuck. Where did I see the Pyxis? Right, Anna, right, _her brain screamed at her. Anna flew to the right and pushed open the nearest door. Olaf was already there, getting his finger scanned.

"Here," he shouted at Anna, "grab the hundred mil bag from the bottom!" The bottom drawer slid out and the assigned compartment popped open. Anna grabbed a small liquid-filled bag. Olaf ripped off the bottom tape and injected another clear liquid into it. _The epinephrine_, she assumed.

"Run this back to Oaken, go." Anna ran back, thrusting the bag into Mr. Oaken's large hands.

"Fifteen minute push Oaken," Elsa's voice commanded. Oaken hung the bag and pressed various buttons on the IV stand. Hans was holding a mask above the boys face, ready to administer CPR. Oaken connected the clear tube to the tube in the boys hand.

The tension in the room was palpable. Everyone stood by with bated breath, watching the colorful little lines on the screens and listening to harsh little beeps. The monitors slowly stopped with the angry beeps, and Elsa visibly relaxed. She walked over to the boy, his skin was starting to clear, and his blood pressure was climbing back to normal. She looked down his throat; it was clear.

"Okay, let's d.c. the cefazolin, get him started on clinda. I want overnight observation, update me with his stats every fifteen minutes. And for god's sake Hans, do some de-sensitization before you just order something. Next room."

Other personnel came in to take over, and the team shuffled out. Hans look slightly put out, Anna offered him a solitary pat on his lower back. As she was exiting, Anna thought she saw Elsa look at her and give her a small smile and the slightest up tic of her head.

_She gave me the nod. SHE GAVE ME THE NOD. Dude, I got the nod!_

Life might be alright after all.

* * *

She now sat in Elsa's office as they went over Anna's SOAP notes for the day. Anna once again found herself studying the picture on Elsa's desk. She looked so happy in the picture, definitely not like now. She stole a glance at the blonde._ Nope, definitely not like now._ They looked a bit younger here, maybe late teens or early twenties. The young man had auburn hair, green eyes and pale skin. He had a strong jaw with high cheekbones, his face framed by thick eyebrows. Anna had a thing for eyebrows. _Sexy, sexy eyebrows._

"Well they're not bad," Elsa said when she was finished, but you're definitely raw. You missed some key points about Mr. Anderson's angina, and I still am trying to figure out why in the world you thought Alteplase was a good idea when Mrs. Sorenhill is already on heparin."

"Whoops," Anna said, fumbling with her notebook to write down the points Elsa just pointed out. Anna looked back to Elsa, who was now regarding her with a curious expression. Anna felt her ears redden.

"Yes?" she said timidly. She braced herself for another round of peppering. She was going to fold under the pressure of not knowing a damn thing.

"So what did you think of today?"

"Oh," she sat up, glad wasn't getting hit with a barrage of questions. "Well, it was exciting, and terrifying. I mean, I'm glad he's okay now, but I was really worried that he might not be, but at least everything's good now." Elsa's eyebrow quirked up, but she gave Anna a curt nod. The temperature in the room seemed to go up twenty degrees, and Anna felt her shoulders slack.

"Very well, I'll see you tomorrow."

Anna got up to leave, packing her things carefully. Just as opened the door to leave, "Anna?"

Anna turned around.

"I spilled coffee all over my mentor in the my third year. I passed the block."

Anna opened her mouth to say something, but Elsa gave her a quick shooing motion.

Anna smiled to herself as she closed the door to Elsa's office.

"Oh hello, were you visiting Dr. Casimir?" Anna looked around of the source of the voice. It was coming from a tiny man in front of her. He had a large bushy salt and pepper mustache (though it was more salt, Anna noted) and simply the worst toupee she'd ever seen. She hid her chuckle behind a large grin.

"Oh yes, I'm a medical student and she's mentoring me."

He clapped his hands. "Well isn't that wonderful! I'm Director Weselton, in charge of all the operations in this hospital. If you'll excuse me, I need to have some words with her." He shook Anna's hand.

"Of course, of course," Anna said, as she watched the tiny, tiny man knock on Elsa's door. After he entered the office, she turned away, intending to take a long, and much needed, bubble bath.

* * *

"Hello Miss Casimir," Weselton called. Elsa tensed. She hated this rodent of a man. Everything about him made her want to stomp out his existence. If she had her way, she'd just quit this forsaken place and find another hospital to work at. But she couldn't. She needed him.

An icy atmosphere descended on the room. Elsa was sure he could feel the hate she had for him. It was probably emanating off her in visible waves.

"Have you thought about my proposal?" Even his voice made her want to vomit.

"I have, and I cannot compromise with those terms. I've already set this project back years, if we keep delaying it, we may miss our window to find a cure. Especially since many of the samples can be gleaned now. That funding is needed now." The last sentence came out through clenched teeth. She glared at him.

Weselton either didn't notice or he was ignoring her looks of absolute loathing.

"Well," he said in a drawling voice, "maybe we can work something else out." Striding over to behind Elsa's desk, he cupped her chin. He stood in close, so that Elsa was almost looking directly up at him.

"There must be something else that I need," his eyes looked up and down Elsa, "that you could give to me." Elsa pulled away from his grip. He's not serious? Is he insinuating that I sleep with him? Hate was coursing through her veins. Still though, she feigned innocence.

"What are you implying?"

"Oh you're a smart girl, Ms. Casimir," he said, striding to the door, "I'm sure you already know what I mean."

With that he exited, slamming the door shut behind him.

Elsa put her head in her hands. All the bluster faded out of her. What was she going to do? She needed that funding for her research. She _had_ to have it.

She hated everything about this feeling. This feeling of no escape. The feeling of absolute powerlessness.

She had to get away, or she was going to lose it. She clear her head, even if only for the weekend. Elsa picked up the phone and dialed an intercom.

"Flynn!" she barked. He responded with a lazy "wassup."

"Is the cabin free this weekend?" The cabin in question had been donated by a benefactor to the medical center. Located up in North Mountain National Park, it was free for use by any of the faculty, provided it was reserved in advance.

"Mmmm, nope, looks free this weekend. Friday through Sunday."

"Good, reserve it, tell everyone 'let's go.'"

"Alright, but what's the official reason?" Flynn was referring to the paperwork that needed to be filled out. While free to use, a legitimate reason had to be put down. "Get wasted and fuck all weekend" was not justifiable.

"Shit, I don't know, department bonding, extended department meeting, research planning."

"Alright, so in other words, make one up. I got you." She could almost see his customary wink over the phone. "I'll send out a mass text and see what everyone says."

* * *

_Friday. _

Anna couldn't believe it was finally here. The week would finally be drawing to a close, she could stay in her underwear all weekend long and eat cookie dough ice cream out of the carton. But she was daydreaming in the middle of rounds, and there would be a high price to pay for that.

"Anna!" _Shit. There it is._

"A patient comes in with a suspected stroke. What are we looking for?" Oh wait, Anna actually knew the answer to that one.

"They may have unilateral weakness, an inability to speak, visual disturbances and altered levels of consciousness."

"And what tests should we order?" _Fuck_. This was the problem with getting peppered. If you know the answer to one, it doesn't end. Elsa would keep going until you get to something you don't know.

"A CT scan, uh, and, uh, hm," _Shit_. Her mind blanked.

_3, 2, 1 - _

"Look it up!"

If Anna had glanged up at all in her rush to find her literary resources, she would've seen a small smirk on Elsa's lips and the gentle head shaking of Flynn.

Anna was still taking notes when the team began walking out. They were pretty hard to miss. It was a flurry of white coats passing by, all taking animatedly. Olaf, ever the friendly one, called over.

"Anna! Leave that for now, let's get some grub!" He waited until the girl caught up. They had a delightfully fun conversation as they made their way to dining hall and filled their trays.

"And so Hans was trying to hit on this super hot patient, I mean smoking. Like she could melt winter and turn it into summer hot. Anyway, so he tries to shove his hand down her shirt with his stethoscope in hand, but instead he puts it in her bra."

Anna could see where this was going already.

"So he's 'taking her heart rate' and trying to make googly eyes at her and ask her for her number. She says 'Sure.'"

Anna's eyes widened in surprise.

"The girl grabs the end of Hans' stethoscope and yells her number in it. Poor guy couldn't hear for a week."

Anna erupted in a fit of giggles, almost dropping her tray.

"Oh please," a disdainful voice said from behind them, "the ladies love _le Hans._" He wiggled his hips in a thrusting motion for emphasis.

"Get over it," Flynn said from right behind Hans. He used a hand to tip Hans' tray slightly. The cup on the tray threatened to knock over.

"Yo! What the fuck yo?!" Hans screeched. "If I get this," motioning to his cup, "all over this," pointing to his shirt, "I can't wear it ever again! This isn't just some run-of-the-mill Banana Republic shirt! It was hand woven on a bamboo loom in Lebanon using the wool from lambs! They used my specific measurements!"

"Oh shut up and sit down, you wanksta," Flynn smirked as he sat himself at the table, across from Anna and Olaf. Elsa set her tray next to him. The table was completed by the arrival of Sven and Oaken a couple minutes later.

"So," Flynn started, "you all get my text? About the cabin this weekend?"

"Oh, ya, but I cannot make it. I have the lutefisk judging competition this weekend, ya," Oaken explained, eliciting dry heaves from people around the table.

"I can't make it either," Sven spoke up, "I've got a piano recital for my daughter."

"Okay, so it's me, Elsa, Olaf and Hans, right?" Flynn looked at Hans. He was sitting with his arms crossed, head cocked to the side, as if daring Flynn to ask him again.

"Hans, are you joining us?"

"Pfft, No. No way. That cabin has sheets with a _horrible_ thread count, and the water temperature fluctuates wildly. I mean how am I supposed to bathe in a possible sixty-five to a hundred and one temperature water? And-"

"Alright, alright," Flynn cut him off, "We get it. You're not coming." He looked at Elsa. "But now we're down to three. Minimum cabin requirement is four people."

Elsa pondered it for a moment, then cocked her head in Anna's direction.

_Me?_

"Anna, would you like to join us for a department bonding trip?" Flynn winked at her and raised an eyebrow. _Well how can I resist that?_

She nodded her head enthusiastically in return.

* * *

"So explain to me what's going on," Kristoff said as he watched Anna try to frantically pack her things.

"Um, I don't know, the team was going to hang out this weekend up in North Mountain Park and they needed a fourth, so they invited me." She turned to Kristoff and shrugged her shoulders, emphasizing that she wasn't exactly sure how this all transpired.

"What are you guys gonna do?" Kristoff was greeted with another shoulder shrug.

"I'm just trying to stay on everyone's good side, especially Elsa's. I think she might be warming up to me. If I don't go, they can't go, and I know no one will be happy with me then." She pushed some clothing into her duffel bag.

"Well don't forget to pack warm, it's cold up at North Mountain. And how are you getting there?"

"Oh! They're picking me up. Actually, I think they should be here soon." She stole a glance at the clock. There were about fifteen more minutes before the imposed arrival. She threw other stuff she needed in the bag. Warm clothes, shoes, toiletry kit, she was pretty sure she had almost everything.

A car horn honked outside.

Throwing an arm around Kristoff, she gave him a quick hug and ran out the door.

"Be safe!" he called after her.

She threw her things in the back of Flynn's jeep and joined Olaf in the backseat. Elsa was riding shotgun. Everybody gave her quick hellos and they were on their way out of the city.

The cabin was about a two hour drive away, and soon the tall skyscrapers of the city faded into open farmland of the country. Anna would let out an "ooh" or "ahh" every once in a while. They followed a windy road, climbing the steep terrain, until finally they reached the cabin.

Anna almost jumped out of the car before it stopped. The cabin sat on a side of small lake, opening up to a clear view of the North Mountain. There was a small boat shed, and connected to it was a cute little dock. Anna felt herself bouncing on her toes in excitement.

"I take it you like it," Elsa drawled as she walked past Anna towards the cabin.

It was true. Anna could hardly contain herself. She loved the outdoors, adventure, anything like that.

This weekend was going to be so much fun.

* * *

**_Glossary:_**

_Lovenox, warfarin: anticoagulant drugs used to prevent the formation of blood clots_

_Bridge: __typically patients are slowly transferred to a medicine they can take at home, or bridged. this minimizes bleeding or clotting events._

_PTSD: post traumatic stress disorder_

_penicillin, cefazolin: antibiotic drugs, they can sometimes cross react_

_flushes: personnel will use small amounts of a certain liquid to clear, or flush, the IV line of any lingering substances._

_coding: patient is dying. coding is bad. very bad._

_Epi drip: short for epinephrine, if you've heard of an EpiPen, this is the same drug, except hung from an IV bag and it works a little quicker_

_Pyxis: fancy schmancy machine hospitals use to keep drugs in. It features a fingerprint scanner, and it makes it a quick and safe way to retrieve drugs._

_fifteen minute push: the duration of drug administration. i.e. over fifteen minutes_

_Clinda: short for clindamycin, another antibiotic_

_d.c: discontinue_

_de-sensitization: similar to testing for allergic reactions, patients can be slowly weaned to handle antibiotics they were thought to be allergic to_

_SOAP notes: acronym for subjective, objective, assessment, plan. practitioners who care for the patient take notes about the patient in this manner. It allows charts to be a little more streamlined and concise. Good soap notes are key._

_alteplase, heparin: other blood clot preventing/clearing drugs_

_angina: chest pain, typically precedes a heart attack or such_

* * *

_****__I just want to thank all you followers, it's amazing. _Phew, I know that was long, and the story is a bit slow, but c'mon, it's not easy to melt an Ice Queen. ;)


	4. Whiskey & Wine

Hurriedly, Anna snatched her duffle and entered the cabin. It was beautifully rustic, adorned with various fish trophies and old books. A dusty fireplace anchored the living room, with a large rug and couch in front of it. The walls had framed pictures of the previous inhabitants, most of whom looked like they had been there in the seventies.

The kitchen featured a large counter, with an island in the middle that doubled as a makeshift bar. Mismatched wooden stools sat next to it. Anna skipped down the hall. There was a cute bathroom, with small daisies sitting an old Coca Cola bottle. She continued on to the bedrooms.

She looked inside the one on the right, and judging by the large stag head mounted above the bed, she assumed it would be the boy's room. She looked into the room across the hall, and it was much softer in decoration, with watercolor paintings and lavender potpourri. She set her bag down and pulled her camera out.

Connected to the living room was an outdoor patio that gave a perfect view of the lake. It had a round table with four accompanying chairs. Anna could picture everyone enjoying breakfast and a cup of coffee there. She clicked her camera on.

After playing with the settings a little, she began snapping pictures. Pictures of the lake, pictures of the dock, pictures of the mountain. It was all so beautiful. The sun was beginning to set behind the mountain range, causing the lake to glisten. Anna couldn't help it. She let out a squeal.

She heard footsteps behind her, and turned around to see Olaf. They sat back in the chairs, taking the time to relax and enjoy the moment in silence.

* * *

Inside, Flynn and Elsa had finished offloading most of the supplies. Desperate to get to the relaxation part of her weekend, Elsa asked for "her friend Johnnie."

Flynn smirked and pulled out a full bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label whiskey.

"We _are_ starting early, aren't we, m'lady?"

"Shut up Flynn, and give me the bottle." Elsa searched for the tumblers in the cabinet. "You want one?"

"Of course."

Elsa set two glasses on the counter and poured the brown liquid into each of them. After handing one to Flynn, she perched herself atop one of the stools.

The aroma was enticing. The more she swirled it, the more that wafted into her nose. She tasted some of the whiskey. As the liquid burned her throat on the way down, it felt like it was slowly burning off her problems as well. She crossed her legs and propped an elbow on the table.

Leaning on the counter, Flynn sipped his whiskey as well.

"So why'd we have to come out here? What's wrong?"

Elsa looked at him. She debated telling him about everything, including Weselton's scandalous proposal. But she also knew Flynn; he'd be unable to keep a level head and not tear anyone limb from limb. He'd get himself fired. Her friend already knew about the funding problem; he didn't have to know about the rest just yet.

"Nothing, I just needed to get away. Weselton's giving me a hard time about my research grant."

Flynn seemed to take her words at face value, and simply nodded.

"So what's up with her?" He cocked his head in Anna's general direction.

"What?"

"Oh come on, don't 'what' me," he teased. "You're taking it easy on her."

"I am not," Elsa denied.

"Yeah you are. She hasn't cried once. Usually by now you've got them sobbing in the storage closet on their lunch break."

Elsa smirked into her drink. It was true; she loved teasing the interns. Ask them questions they don't know the answer to, then watch them run around like chickens without heads. It made her chuckle just thinking about it.

"Remember Stephen?" Flynn started laughing on his own. Elsa couldn't hold back her laughter as she too remembered the student. That had to be a new record. Elsa had him crying within the first two hours of meeting her. _Two hours!_

"Hey, it's not like I don't do it without good intentions, I guarantee you they learn more here than any 'Easy A' rotation," Elsa tried to defend herself. Still though, she liked watching the redhead blush whenever Elsa put her on the spot. She loved lip bite she did whenever she got nervous. It was positively adorable.

"Is it cause she's cute?" Flynn was grinning at Elsa, his eyes casting surreptitious glances between Elsa and Anna.

"You moron, shut up, that is not it." _She was cute though._

"Is it cause she's a redhead? Remember Ariel?" _Ahh Ariel, the cute ginger with the swimmer's body and-_

"NO. That's not it."

"Then what is it?"

Elsa shrugged.

"I don't know, I guess I don't feel the need to be as mean. Usually these kids come in thinking they're_ the shit_; it's just fun to knock them down a peg or two to humble them. This girl, Anna, she's alright I guess."

Anna had actually been refreshing. The students that came in were usually so full of themselves, all determined to impress "The Ice Queen." All they really did was piss Elsa off. So Elsa would show them exactly how much they had still to learn, because no matter how much you think you know, when it comes to the field of medicine, you'll never know enough.

Anna came in with a desire to learn, an enthusiasm for what she was doing. She didn't attempt to argue back with Elsa, she simply nodded her head and took notes. The ability to accept that you don't know things was far more important than the ability to show off what you do know. Elsa felt a warmth as she thought about the redhead.

"So you gonna sleep with her?"

Elsa coughed into her drink, feeling the heat rise to her face. "What?! What the hell is wrong with you?! Why would you ask that?!"

Flynn had his head thrown back in laughter. He looked back at Elsa.

"Come on, you could totally hit that, she'd be all over you!"

"You're gonna find yourself floating out in the middle of that lake tomorrow morning," Elsa threatened. "And you know that's _completely_ unethical. I'm sorry we can't all be like you and take advantage of our students."

Flynn's face morphed to a large, dopey grin. "Oh yeah, Cheryl." Elsa let him have his moment in Dreamland.

_Alright, moment done._

"You know that I'll hold this over your head forever right? You're done if this gets out."

Flynn was completely unfazed. "Els, if you ever felt the need to air that out about me, it's probably because I've stabbed you in the back or vice versa, in which case the world will have gone to shit and it wouldn't matter anyway."

Elsa smiled into her drink once more. He was right. Their friendship was far too great to let a tiny little secret like that ruin them. Her gaze shifted back towards the redhead, looking at nothing in particular.

"Just don't break her," Flynn's voice was earnest and concerned.

Elsa stared at the girl outside; she was sharing a laugh with Olaf. Her head was thrown back, arms clutching her sides. She was full of so much life.

"I won't."

* * *

That evening, Olaf displayed his amazing (and surprising) cooking skills. He presented the group with an appetizing display of roasted pork, handmade ravioli, and vegetable side dishes that were garnished with herbs Anna didn't know the names of. The aroma was so appetizing it lured her all the way from the lake edge.

"Let's eat!" Flynn exclaimed, and the quartet proceeded to sit at the square table. Anna took a spot across from Elsa; Olaf and Flynn mirrored each other.

"Anna, would you care for some wine?" an accented voice said to her. She looked up. Olaf had a towel draped on his arm, a bottle of red wine in his hand.

"Sure," she said excitingly. It was like eating at a high-class restaurant. Her mindset was, "If there's wine, it's hella fancy."

"This my dear, is a syrah," Olaf explained as he poured her a glass. "It has been aged for approximately eighteen years, and I find the taste absolutely delightful." He topped off her glass with a flourish and gave an embellished mock wave.

Anna nodded as she swirled her glass. The thick aroma stung her nose a little; she noticed a berry-like smell, but was unable to pin down the rest of the odors.

Olaf continued in his faux regal voice. "I picked this up in Napa some years ago from a delightful little winery. You'll notice it's a bit darker than a Pinot, but it matches with the pork magnificently. Using Olaf's special barbecue sauce, I guarantee you this is a meal you will never forget." With that, he gave a fancy little two-clap.

Anna couldn't help but give Olaf's presentation a standing applause. The cook gave a mock bow, and the rest of the table slow-clapped. The room was soon filled with laughter, and they dug into their meals.

Elsa looked up every once in a while to glance at the redhead across of her. Clearly, one should not disturb this woman while she's eating. She was attacking the pork with gusto, chewing fervently, stabbing vegetables. She was practically gulping the wine, and she apparently couldn't be bothered to wipe the barbecue sauce on her lip.

Elsa found herself licking her own lips as she looked at the younger girl's, perhaps hoping it would somehow magically remove it.

There was the feeling of someone staring, and Elsa looked to her right to see Flynn smirking at her. Lifting her whiskey glass to her lips, she silently flipped him off.

* * *

After dinner, Elsa stretched out in front of the fireplace, kicking her feet up on the coffee table. Soft little hums were coming from the kitchen as Olaf cleaned up. Flynn was outside, a glass of whiskey on the table, a lit cigar between his fingers. This was exactly what the Elsa needed.

The relaxed atmosphere was perfect. Nothing but nature surrounding them. No angry people yelling, no car horns blasting, no deafening music, and no people dying. Elsa had come to terms with the nature of her profession, but it still stung. People die. You can't save everyone, but you can sure as hell try your best. So that even if they did pass, there were no regrets.

Sighing with relief, she opened her book and started to read.

After she got about ten pages in, Anna interrupted her. That is to say, the shadow cast by Anna disturbed her.

"Elsa, do you mind if I sit with you on the couch?" Anna's face was flushed red, and she looked a little unsteady.

_Probably from the wine, _Elsa noted. She silently nodded her approval. Anna dropped on the couch without delicacy. It caused the other girl to bounce in her seat.

"Whoops," Anna chuckled, more to herself than Elsa.

"How much wine did you have?" Elsa asked out of curiosity.

Anna shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe this many glasses?" Her fingers alternated between three and four as Anna giggled.

The blonde attempted to continue reading, but was surprised when Anna rested her head against Elsa's shoulder. Clearly the alcohol was loosening any inhibitions Anna had around the so-called Ice Queen.

Elsa froze. She could smell her hair. _God she smells like apples, and white roses, and a bamboo forest. _She had no idea how all those elaborate fragrances managed to come to mind.

It was a moment before Elsa realized she'd been holding her breath. The temperature in the room seemed to have gone up thirty degrees. Anna snuggled in closer and her breath hitched again.

Her heart was racing. She forced herself to breathe. _What are you? Thirteen? Do you have a boner right now or something? It's like you've never snuggled with a girl before. _

_Yeah, well those girls didn't smell like rays of fucking sunshine! Godamnit. _She was suddenly having second thoughts about inviting Anna along.

"'M sorry," a muffled voice came from beneath her. "Wine makes me sleeeeepy." Elsa nodded dumbly, her eyes simply staring at the words before her, not actually reading.

"Y'know," Anna continued with her eyes closed, "I think you're amazing. I know you don't like me, but 'as okay." Her words were starting to slur. Elsa could smell the wine off her breath.

"Everyone says you're an Ice Queen, but tha's not true. I see how you care for the payshens. You care about all of them.

"I like how you're so confident in the room, like how you can command everyone around when there's an emergenshee. You're so smart, and so pretty too, and all the guys check you out.

"You don't like me 'cause I'm not smart, but I'm trying, I'm trying." Anna's head slipped off Elsa's shoulder into her lap.

The older girl gasped in surprise at the sudden contact, but the redhead was not going to be disturbed. Elsa could already hear a light snore. She put a hand on Anna's head and gently stroked her auburn hair.

_Oh you silly, silly girl._

Not wanting to deal with the inevitable teasing of Flynn, Elsa enlisted Olaf to get Anna to their room. After laying her on the bed, Elsa bid everyone good night. She closed the door and turned around. Putting her hand to her head, she let out an exasperated sigh. This was not an ideal situation.

Gazing at the sleeping form, the blonde decided that, although Anna was not in sleep clothes, she was not going to change them for her. _I am not opening that cookie jar._

Instead, she simply pulled off Anna's shoes and jacket, leaving the redhead in a thin sweater and leggings. Elsa changed into her sleep clothes, brushed her teeth and climbed into bed with Anna. Deliberately facing her back towards the other girl, it took her almost thirty minutes to fall asleep.

* * *

**_I know, short chapter, but one more should be coming very soon. I said last chapter I would be out of town, but I've had so much fun writing this that I'll be able to get one more chapter out before my trip. ___****Thanks for the new follows and I'm always happy when I read reviews! **


	5. Cabin Fever

When Elsa woke the next morning, the first thing she noticed was the sun shining directly on her face. The second thing she noticed was the warm body pressed up against her. Not wanting to make any sudden movements, she cautiously peered down. Anna had an arm around her waist, pulling her in. The arm snaked around to rest on Elsa's chest, and her own hand was on top, their fingers intertwined.

Anna's face was buried into her back; Elsa could feel her breaths gently tickling her skin. Her whole body was pressed against the blonde's, legs tangled underneath the blanket.

_I am the little spoon. Or fork. Whatever._

An overwhelming sense to breathe came over her, and Elsa let out the air she'd been holding. _I've really got to stop that habit. I'm gonna suffocate myself._

She lay there for a few minutes, reveling in the warmth, but nervously trying to figure out a solution to her dilemma. There had to be a way to wake her without sounding enormously awkward.

_Hey! So we spooned last night, but that was all. You were drunk, but I didn't take advantage of you. Didn't even see your panties._

Oh, this was going to go down in flames. But like manna sent from the heavens, the body behind her began to stir. _Okay Elsa, play it cool. She's your student, and she was just drunk-cuddling. Lots of straight girls drunk-cuddle. _

"Mmmm, morning," the voice behind her said, as freckled arms stretched above her. "Sorry, it looks like I kind of snuggled against you last night. I tend to get a little touchy when I'm drunk. I hope I didn't say anything too stupid either."

Elsa faked a yawn, acting as if she too were just rising from slumber as well.

"Oh it's alright, you're a pretty good cuddler."

_WHAAAT?_

Anna chuckled. "But I'm still in my icky clothes from yesterday."

"That's okay, you still smelled good." _Why am I still talking?_

Elsa contemplated jumping in the lake outside and hoping a monster came up from within to swallow her.

Anna chuckled once more. "Well, maybe if I cuddle with you more often you could give me a passing grade?" She blinked her eyes innocently. Elsa laughed.

_Maybe. _

Anna rose from the bed, beginning to peel off her shirt. As soon as the barest hints of skin were visible, Elsa made a line for the door.

"Oh, where are you going? I still have to shower."

"I'm gonna get started with breakfast," Elsa called, already out in the hall. She could feel the redness creeping up to her ears. That situation would have gotten out of hand. It seems that after her little confession last night, Anna had become MUCH more comfortable around Elsa. This was a bad, bad thing. Especially for the older girl.

_Oh calm down. Like you're never had a crush before. _The voice inside her was beginning to talk sense. _She's just your student, nothing more. You won't cross the line, you already know that. At the very least, this girl can be your friend._

Elsa took a deep breath and let it out. The voice was right. She could be friends with Anna. She needed friends like this girl anyway. People who saw the best in everything. People willing to love.

She set out the bowls and began making breakfast.

* * *

By the time Anna emerged, her three companions were already seated on the patio. Various dishes were spread out on the round table, and everyone was enjoying the scene of the lake.

"Morning everyone," she called as she slid open the patio door. The cold morning air hit her face. It danced across her skin, making it tingle, waking her senses bit by bit. She pulled a chair in between Flynn and Elsa.

"Hello, you're looking beautiful this morning," Flynn told Anna.

The redhead mumbled a thanks, blush creeping into her cheeks as she reached for a plate.

Elsa gave Flynn her best "are-you-fucking-kidding-me-right-now?" face. He just bit his cheek and stifled a laugh.

"So," Anna cleared her throat, "what do you folks have planned for today?"

"Well," Flynn began, "We were planning to trek up to the south face of the North Mountain and do some rock climbing. I hope you brought your climbing shoes."

Anna clapped her hands excitedly. "No way! I totally brought my shoes! I mean, I wasn't even sure if I was going to get to use them, but I thought, 'what the heck?' And the North Mountain, I heard some of the routes are insanely fun! I seriously can't wait!"

She looked around the table. Her extended ramble had brought everyone to a halt. A piece of sausage fell of Olaf's fork. Flynn was looking at her with wide eyes and Elsa had an eyebrow quirked to the sky. _She tends to do that eyebrow thing a lot. _

"Sorry," she muttered, and began eating her food again.

Elsa, on the other hand, was casting Flynn dirty looks from across the table. He did NOT say anything about climbing stupidly tall mountains before this morning. What the hell?

He met her eyes, and gave her an innocent smile. It seemed to say, "Well Anna's really excited about it, so we can't change it. Unless you want to be a Grinch. Go on Ms. Grinch, I dare you to change it. Ruin her Spring Christmas."

Elsa poked her eggs angrily, muttering under her breath.

* * *

After breakfast, the gang loaded up their gear into the jeep. The trailhead was about a fifteen minute drive, and then another twenty minute walk to the approach. Elsa plopped herself in the passenger seat, clearly not as enthused as her three amigos.

"You know you could just stay behind if you don't want to go," Flynn told her. She had contemplated it, but she didn't want to leave Anna alone with him. Was she jealous?

Yes.

_No_.

No, that couldn't be it. She was just concerned for her well-being in the presence of Flynn. Yeah, that was it, but her severe dislike of climbing high rock faces was not going to make this any better.

Anna could barely contain her excitement. She was flitting from side to side on the trail, anxious to take in each and every view the hike could offer. When they reached the bottom of the rock face, she was bouncing on her soles, hands balled into fists, whispering "Yes, yes, yes," under her breath.

Flynn dropped his large backpack and began unpacking. Olaf helped him, pulling out a large tarp, which he unfolded and set on the ground. Then he proceeded to unpack the rest of the needed gear. Flynn pulled out a very long blue rope, as well as some carabiners.

"So I take it you have climbing experience?" Flynn asked Anna as he continued pulling out more things. He took out some quickdraws, a device composed of two carabiners connected by a sturdy piece of cloth, used for attaching the rope to the wall.

"Oh just a little, no alpine or real big-wall stuff. Mostly just sport climbing," she said as she wiggled her harness over her hips.

"That's good, because Olaf doesn't either, so I figured we'd just do some sport climbing." He jerked a thumb up at the wall. At various points, Anna could see bolts of metal drilled securely into the wall. This was where the climber would "clip in" with their rope. In case they fell, the rope running through this bolt would be the thing that prevented them from falling all the way back to the ground.

Elsa was sitting back on a rock, arms crossed. Though she was not pleased at all, she wasn't going to let Anna see how uncomfortable she was. She did have an image to maintain. But she was completely out of her element at the moment. She loved the tranquility of the outdoors, but she was not prepared for the hurricane Anna brought.

Everything felt out of her control. In the hospital, people obeyed her words, she had solutions for problems, and she knew what variables she had to control. Everything was professional. She was drowning here, with hanging off of cliffs and a pretty girl bouncing around and cuddling up to her at inopportune moments.

She never thought she'd miss her stuffy office so much.

* * *

"So you wanna go first?" Flynn had finished setting up.

Anna jumped. "Yes!" she tightened the straps on her harness down. She had some quickdraws and slings hanging off her harness, along with a chalk bag attached from behind. She tied the thick blue rope into her harness, and Flynn double-checked her for safety. The rope was passing through a belay device attached to his harness. If Anna fell, Flynn would be responsible for catching her by keeping tension on the rope. After deeming her suitable, he stepped back.

"Climbing," she called back.

"Climb on," she heard his response. Anna dipped her hand into the powdery substance behind her, and spread the chalk around her fingertips. Fingers trembling with excitement, she latched on to the wall and began her ascent. Down below, Elsa was actually impressed. Anna moved up the rock face with surprising grace. Her body contorted in various positions, lithely climbing up and up.

Anna was having the time of her life. She loved being on the wall. Whatever choice she made, it was her own. She could climb up a crevice or latch on to a hold. Whatever she wanted. She stuck the fingers of her right hand into the crack, securely jamming them in. Her feet were spread apart, toes resting on tiny ledges, clearly aided by the stiff black soles of her climbing shoes.

She reached to her side with her left hand and detached a quick draw. She then stretched up and clipped one carabiner into the bolt just above her face. She passed the rope through the opposing carabiner, securing herself in place. She continued on. Every few feet, Anna would pause, pulling out another quickdraw and connecting her rope with the wall. When she reached the top, she pulled out a couple more quick draws. Just above her were two more bolts, about twelve inches apart. She clipped a quick draw to each bolt, and then ran her rope thorough the two bottom carabiners. Satisfied that her work was secure, she called to Flynn below.

"Tension!" Anna felt the slack in the rope all but disappear.

"Belay on!"

"Coming down!"

Flynn lowered Anna, letting the rope slide through his harness as a controlled rate. She rappelled down, feet bouncing off the mountain. He would pause every few feet as she removed the quick draws placed during the ascent. Now that she had established the top anchor, they were no longer needed.

As her feet touched the ground, her face wore nothing but a look of jubilation. She untied herself from the rope and handed off to Flynn. He then switched off with Olaf. Anna watched them take turns climbing. She'd be more than happy to belay them, but her light weight made it a bit more troublesome. Instead, she watched them have their turns, jumping up excitedly when it was her time again.

In contrast to her original ascent, Anna no longer had to worry about fiddling with quick draws. Because the anchor point at the top of the cliff was set, no one had to worry about "clipping in" any more. This was known as "top roping." Anna loved it for its simplicity. Other climbers (Kristoff, for example) might snootily prefer traditional climbing, but Anna reveled in sport climbing. She hated being bothered with placing safety devices into the rock. She just wanted to climb. With top roping, she could tackle the wall face freely, and leave her mind to concentrate on her movements.

While Anna was having the time of her life, Elsa was contemplating exactly what she had done wrong in a previous one to put her in such a horrible situation. Why couldn't Flynn have chosen a different activity? Something that didn't put her life so much at risk? You know, fishing, snowboarding, bull fighting, deep sea diving? Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating, but she could not do rock climbing. It wasn't that she didn't like sports, it was just something about the height and the danger and-she felt herself getting woozy already. _Vertigo._

"Okay, it's Elsa's turn!" Anna was bouncing on her feet once again, looking straight at Elsa. Elsa put her hands up to decline.

"No, I think I'm okay, besides I don't really know anything about rock climbing," she conceded. Anna was unfazed.

"Come on," she said, waving Elsa toward her, "Kristoff showed me how to climb mountains, I can show you too!" She led them to another area, a little bit further away from the Olaf and Flynn.

"You guys keep going, I'm gonna show Elsa something!" Elsa reluctantly trudged behind.

"Good luck with that one," Olaf called.

"Bite me!" Elsa mouthed silently behind Anna's back.

Pulling a growling Elsa away, Anna walked up to an short wall.

"Okay, so there's really nothing to it. Just keep most of the weight on your feet. You have to _really _trust your toes on this. I know most of the time it seems like your feet won't stay on that little ledge, but they will, you just have to believe." She walked up to the wall, flipping both braids over her shoulder.

"Would you stand behind me? Keep your hands out, if I fall, just try to brace me, not catch me.

"Now," she said, reaching a chalked hand to grab on to the rock, "you climb. You can use anything you want. Your elbow, your fingers, your knee. Creativity and flexibility are the keys to being a great climber. A style that works for someone else might not work for you." She hooked a heel above her, and arching her back, she reached up to a hold far above her. She paused there, deciding that going any higher without a rope was too dangerous.

Meanwhile below, Elsa had her hands braced for impact. Anna was about five feet off the ground, the bottoms of her feet eye level with Elsa. For the first time that day, she took notice of what Anna was wearing. She had the typical stiff pointy shoes climbers wore, and her hair was braided into two cute pigtails. She had a thin pink tank top on that was fitted but not constricting, revealing toned arms and a slim torso. Eyes sliding lower, Elsa eyed her bottom as it was perfectly outlined in Anna's tight black capris. Anna definitely had some nice legs. Her eyes started sliding to the area where her thighs met-

"Catch!" Anna had suddenly let go of the wall.

"WHOOOAAA!" Elsa reflexively thrust her arms out in front of her, attempting to nab the plummeting redhead. The weight of a falling Anna was far too much force for Elsa to withstand, and the two girls ended up in a heap in the dirt, kicking up a large cloud of dust in their wake.

Elsa coughed out the dirt storm she had inhaled. She let out a groan from the aching pain. Something coughed dirt back into her face. Looking up, she realized that the redhead had somehow fallen directly on top of her and their faces were now inches apart.

"Whoops, that was like a crazy trust exercise," the redhead said sheepishly. Panicking, Elsa shoved Anna off her with two rough hands to her shoulders. Anna flipped onto her bottom roughly.

_Damnit Elsa, relax, play it cool. Aloof. You've been attracted to other girls before and they never knew a thing. Aloof is the key._

Anna suddenly looked very apologetic. "Sorry," she rubbed a hand on the back of her head.

_That's it, you have to be mysterious. _Elsa put a displeased scoff on her face, attempting the "I'm too cool to be bothered by falling" look.

Looking at Elsa, Anna continued, "I'm sorry if I offended you. I wasn't trying to show off or anything. I shouldn't have acted like I was so great."

_That draws them in, and they don't suspect a thing. Then you can swoop them off their feet. Wait, no. There will be no swooping of the feet here. She's a student. _Elsa was barely listening to Anna. She was having an internal argument, and it was manifesting in strange expressions on her face. This time, her eyebrows were pursed and her face set in a grimace.

Anna misinterpreted it though, shoulders suddenly shrinking and turning away from Elsa.

_Great, now I made her upset. Aloof, Elsa, not constipated!_ _Fix it!_

"Anna," she said in her best calm voice, "It's alright, I'm fine." The shine in Anna's eyes returned and she skipped back to the guys.

* * *

Anna had her fill of climbing for the day, so she sat back on some nearby rocks and observed everyone else. It was always interesting to watch other people climb. Climbing was like a puzzle, and though everyone knew the answer, the solutions could be vastly different.

Olaf, for example, was almost the complete opposite of Anna. He was stocky on a compact frame, and that allowed him to simply power through difficult moves. He could muscle up using mostly his arms, or pull himself up using a single digit hold. He wasn't much for grace or elegance, simply picking the most straightforward route and bulldozing through complex sections.

Flynn was a bit more gentle. Like Anna, he opted for technique over muscle, though he was perfectly capable of it if needed. His longer arm span made everything seem a bit simpler to him, since more holds were available were within reach. Flynn seemed to prefer cracks, laying back and jamming his toes into the crevice.

Anna employed as much technique as possible. Because she lacked the strength the guys had, she often planned her moves carefully, gracefully backstepping up the wall or edging a foothold that was almost invisible. Elsa on the other hand, was a completely different story.

Anna had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. She didn't want to be rude. But Elsa's technique, or lack there of, was amusing to watch. She would step ungainly in strange places, muttering curse words under her breath. Her strange body positions reminded Anna of the chalk outlines police would use. Every once in a while she'd have to the urge to shout out a tip to Elsa, only to bite it back for fear of pissing her off again.

It did make her more approachable though. After seeing only the sniping, retorting, controlling Ice Queen, watching Elsa, the fumbling, swearing, climbing novice was enjoyable. It made her seem human, no longer untouchable. Like one day they could be friends. And it was adorable.

* * *

They returned to the cabin in the late afternoon, and everybody took part in getting dinner ready. Olaf prepped for the barbecue, Flynn gathered wood for the fire, Elsa readied the drinks, and Anna gathered the dishes in the picnic basket.

The patio was already warm with the heat of the fire and filled with the delicious smell of the hickory wood when they went out side. They all decided to have beer to accompany the steaks Olaf was grilling. Elsa was glad to see Anna avoiding the wine. She could do without a repeat of last night.

"So, Anna," Flynn lazily called, feet propped up on Olaf's vacated seat, "what do you think of Hans?"

"What do you mean?" she was blushing slightly.

"Would you go out on a date with him?"

Elsa's face darkened. She knew what Flynn was up to. He was trying to see if she was available, and after the poor girl confirmed or denied it, Flynn would turn around and relentlessly tease Elsa when she was alone with him.

"Well, I might've considered it, until he tried to hit me with 'The Smolder.'"

"What?" Flynn and Elsa both exclaimed at the same time. The surprising revelation made Elsa forget about Anna. "He did not." Looking between each other, Flynn's original plan lay completely forgotten.

"'The Smolder' is mine!" Flynn proclaimed, rising out of his seat. "He can't just go around wielding its unlimited power on unsuspecting females, especially when he doesn't know how to use it properly!" Elsa and Olaf nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean?" Anna cocked her head to the side.

"I'll show you," he said, placing his hands on the armrests of Anna's chair. She instinctively leaned back as he stood over her, eyes darting between both of his brown orbs.

"Get ready, here comes 'The Smolder,'" he ducked his head. Anna held her breath. When he rose his head again, his lips were pursed in a small pout, eyebrows drawn together and eyes slightly narrowed. He held it there, clearly waiting to see Anna's reaction.

"OHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" Anna burst into laughter. Doubling over, she clutched her sides; they were starting to cramp. She looked back at Flynn's face, and immediately fell into another fit of giggles.

"Well that's just...shocking," a dejected Flynn said over the fourth round of Anna's descent into oblivion. Elsa couldn't help the small feeling of relief that came over her.

* * *

After dinner, the quartet walked to the small beach on the lakeside and built a fire. It was a full moon out, making the lake shine with the white light. Everything was lit so beautifully, the fire was almost unnecessary. Anna brought out supplies to make smores, and Olaf unpacked a few more bottles of beer. They found long sticks for marshmallows and began roasting them.

A gale blew across the water and chilled Elsa. She shivered; it was lot colder than she anticipated. She usually could withstand most cold with just a hoodie.

"Oh Elsa, you're cold," Olaf pointed out the blatantly obvious. Then he just made life worse for Elsa. "You should sit next to Anna, she's got a blanket you can share."

He was right. Anna was the only one who brought out a wool blanket, which she currently had draped around her shoulders.

"It's fine, I can just walk to the cabin and get another blanket." She rose and turned towards the building.

"Why? There's a blanket right there." _Shut up Flynn._

"Yeah Els, just have a seat." _No, Olaf, I will not sit down._

"It's okay Elsa, I don't mind sharing." _Damnit Anna._

"Fine," Elsa huffed.

It seemed the universe hated her, and now she had to sit down. She sat directly to the right of Anna, their legs touching, and the younger girl draped the blanket around Elsa's shoulders.

It was much warmer now, Elsa noticed, thought she wasn't sure if it was caused by the added warmth of Anna, the wool blanket, or the fact that her libido had chosen this weekend to go absolutely haywire.

Everywhere they touched made Elsa hypersensitive. She noticed everywhere she was connected to Anna: her fingers grazing across Elsa's shoulders as she moved the blanket, their touching thighs as she shifted to get comfortable, and their shoulders bumping into one another.

Anna, on the other hand, was perfectly cozy. The added warmth of Elsa and the flushing effect from the alcohol were keeping her heated quite well. She smiled a little.

"See, Elsa's actually just a big softie when you get to know her," Olaf said merrily.

_I think I'd disagree with that, _Anna thought. Anna could count on one hand the times Elsa actually addressed her during the trip, but she wasn't going to argue with Olaf; he'd known Elsa far longer than she had.

Although she managed to bite back a retort, the alcohol had loosened the tight hold she had been keeping on her tongue. She couldn't hold it all in; something had to come rushing out.

"So why do they call you the Ice Queen then?" she blurted, and with far more excitement than intended. Elsa gaped at her, opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it and turned away, as if she thought better of it.

"I'll tell you why," Olaf started. Elsa groaned, putting a hand to her head. Flynn grinned.

"When I was in undergrad, I had an Organic Chemistry lab, and Elsa was my partner. Flynn here, was-"

"I was their TA," Flynn cut in. "Back then, Elsa was just a wee thing, and I had heard she was supposed to be some sort of Doogie Howser genius."

Another groan from Elsa.

"Oh relax," Flynn continued. "So they were fooling around in lab, and I decided to make a bet-"

"He made a bet with Elsa," Olaf cut back in. "He told her, "That if you're a super great prodigy, you'd be able to make meth."

"As in methamphetamine?" Anna gasped. "He didn't."

Olaf nodded solemnly. "He did indeed."

"Well, I didn't expect anything to really come from it, I was just trying to be a dick really," Flynn conceded, rubbing the back of his neck. "But the next week, she walks up to me and says, 'I did it.'" Another gasp from Anna.

"So I said, 'How?' and she just shrugs her shoulders and says, 'Alkylation,' and walks away. I was mind blown. Mind blown. I had no idea she was actually going to do it. So of course, I analyzed it to see if it was actually meth. And fuck me, it was.

"So I started calling her 'Ice Queen,' you know, just as an inside joke between the three of us, and the other students in the lab copied. They thought it was some sort of pun cause she never said anything to them. The name has been with her ever since."

Anna looked down at Elsa. Her face was hidden, her head in between her arms. Anna would've never guessed her name came from an illegal drug. She just assumed it had to do with her personality. Maybe it was easier to just pretend they were right instead of always trying to correct someone. After a while, you just get tired of desperately trying to prove someone wrong. A wave of guilt passed over her.

She too had made assumptions. She hated when people figured she was a lazy, empty-headed brat just because her father owned a fairly large corporation. She despised those people that make back-handed compliments to her.

_"It's a good thing your Daddy is so successful, now you don't have to be smart or pretty!"_

_"You're going to be a doctor? I didn't think you had the brains for that."_

They could all suck her dick. And yet, she hadn't given Elsa the same courtesy when she first met her.

_Well, I could be different._

Anna reentered the conversation. "Wait, you said it was a bet, so if you lost, what did you have to do?" she asked. Flynn gave an exaggerated mock shudder.

"I had to get every inch of hair below my neck….waxed."

"NO!" Anna giggled.

"Yes!" Olaf was laughing now too.

"It was the single most horrendous moment of my life. I couldn't shower, I couldn't lay down, I had to walk with my legs three feet apart. Never again."

Anna looked at Elsa again. Her face was no longer hidden, she too was joining in the laughter, face shining brightly in the flames of the fire. _It's the first time I've ever seen her really smile, _Anna realized. They hadn't had any extended conversations, nor were they calling each other BFFs, but Anna felt they became closer over the weekend. Nervousness and stuttering no longer bothered her around Elsa; she could finally speak without panicking.

_The chasm has shrunk to a ditch, _Anna thought happily to herself.

"Alright, this is WAR," Olaf said dramatically, pulling out a deck of cards. He distributed them evenly and each person took their own stack.

"What's this about?" said Anna curiously.

Olaf lit his face with a flashlight, as he said in a mysterious voice, "The game of war is a time-old tradition. The losers must take—The Polar Plunge! Plunge! Plunge!" He pointed to a nearby boulder overlooking the lake. Flynn nodded along somberly.

"You added in an echo?" Elsa asked with a quirked eyebrow. Anna giggled.

"This is no laughing matter! You know the consequences, dear Elsa!" Olaf continued. "The losers must jump from that rock into the icy depths below!"

And so began one of the most intense (and ridiculous) card games of Elsa's life. Sure, they did it every time they came out here, but it didn't make it any less sillier. After a few minutes of intense shouting, the game ended with Olaf and Flynn high-fiving, Anna pouting and Elsa glaring.

Despite Elsa's resistance, the guys pushed her up the boulder, leaving her and Anna standing alone atop the large rock.

_Fuck. _She never lost a game before. Now she was standing thirty feet above water, the depths almost completely hidden in darkness. Anna, apparently, was not sharing in her fear. She was gleefully giggling as she took off some clothes.

"Haha, oh my god, this is gonna be so ridiculous!" said Anna as she wiggled off her pants. "C'mon Elsa!"

Elsa could only gulp in response. _She's undressing. Here. In front of me. Fuck me. _Even in the darkness, Elsa could see all of Anna's freckles. They sprinkled her body, like she was born with constellations of stars on her skin.

All the curves that Elsa had seen earlier in the day were now unhidden, out in the open for her enjoyment. Or anxiety. Whichever.

As the blonde began peeling off her clothing, Anna waved down to the guys below, and tossed her clothing down to them. She looked back at Elsa, who had also disrobed down to her underwear and had had her arms folded across her waist. She tossed her clothes down to the guys as well.

"Are you ready?" she asked Elsa.

"No," she said. "I'll never be ready."

"It's gonna be fun."

Elsa looked at her like she was insane. Anna's face was completely lit in the moonlight. She wore a child-like grin, eyes shining. Elsa couldn't help it; her breath was caught again.

"I can't do this." _Fuck heights. _

"Yeah you can," Anna held her palm out in front of them. Elsa glanced at her face, then took her hand. Anna gave her a reassuring smile and a gentle squeeze.

Elsa instantly felt more at ease. It was as if the excitement and pleasure Anna felt was leaking through her fingertips and traveling up into Elsa. _  
_

"Alright, let's goooooo!" she pulled Elsa with her as she jumped. Elsa shrieked, jumping off the into the night as well.

They hit the water, the cold chilling straight to the core. When they broke the surface, Anna spoke first.

"FUUUUUUUUCK! It's cold!"

Elsa would've laughed if the chill weren't literally taking her breath away. She began to make her way to shore. Anna had let go of her hand when they jumped, but she had somehow found it again, and when they could touch bottom, Anna wrapped her in a back hug.

_What is she doing?_

"I-I-I'm s-sorry, it's just s-so f-fucking cold!" she stuttered as she pressed the entirety of her front against Elsa's back.

Elsa's eyes widened. _I can feel her nipples. Her hard nipples. They're in my back. I can't breathe._

She wondered exactly what she had done to make the gods conspire against her so.

Elsa pulled them to shore as quickly as she could. Flynn and Olaf were right there, and draped the blanket around the both of them.

"Hah hah!" Flynn said triumphantly. "You have completed the initiation ritual, Anna! You are now one of us!"

"One of us, one of us," Olaf chanted in the background. Anna grinned widely, her chin tucked on Elsa's shoulder.

"Good, now hand me my fucking clothes, it's freezing!"

* * *

It was nearly one in the morning before they trudged their way back to the cabin. Everyone said good night, intending to rise early in the morning.

As the girls packed their things away, an awkward silence descended upon them. They finished packing and began getting ready for bed. Anna wasn't quite sure what to say, and Elsa had no intention of speaking. Elsa was perfectly fine with doing things without talking, Anna, however, felt the need to fill the silence.

"H-Hi, Elsa?"

The blonde turned around to look at Anna.

"I just wanted to say that I had an awesome time hanging out this weekend."

Elsa nodded. _I did too, minus the awkward drunk cuddling, and the almost dirty kiss, and the NHO's in my back. But no big deal._

"And uh, thanks for inviting me. Cause yeah, and, uh, yeah-"

"You're welcome." She smiled slightly.

"Oh, right. So, yup. Actually, I had a super great time, and I like hanging around you. So I was just wondering if we could be…friends? And hang out some time?"

Elsa's eyebrows shot up.

"Oh! Only if you're not busy," Anna retreated, "I know you're, like, crazy busy and stuff, and-"

"I'd like that." Elsa's smile had gotten a little wider now; some of her teeth were showing.

"Wow, that's awesome, thanks-"

"And if you need help with any papers or poster projects, I'd be willing to help."

Anna was smiling widely now. "Oh thanks so much, I'm gonna work even harder now, you'll see!"

Elsa gave a little chuckle as she slid under the covers and wished Anna good night.

_She wants to be friends. I can do that._

* * *

The next morning, the group loaded their stuff back in the jeep, ready to head back to civilization. Anna settled into the backseat, ready to rest from the adventurous weekend. Smashing a rolled up hoodie against the door, she lay her head down and slept the rest of the drive into the city.

For once, she actually wasn't dreading heading into Arendelle Medical Center tomorrow.

* * *

**_#forkanna reference. My bad guys._**

**_This one is fairly long, lots of character stuff here. I hope you're still able to follow along, even though I'm kind of throwing all kinds of terminology (and sports) at you. Who said FFs weren't educational? ;) And I do NOT condone letting go of the wall and making your friend catch you when bouldering. It was just for the story._**


	6. Softballs and Soft Balls

Things only got better for Anna in the next week. She practically skipped to the hospital on Monday, made some good points during rounds on Tuesday, Flynn winked at her on Wednesday, and Hans bought her lunch on Thursday. She was starting to enjoy her time at Arendelle, and she told Kristoff so when she had lunch with him the following Friday.

"I mean, it's a total one-eighty from last Monday, I've been going home on time, Elsa doesn't give me the death glare and only criticized me on one of my points. She even let me counsel a patient ready for discharge and didn't even have to interrupt me. Cause man oh man, that first Monday sucked balls, and I was worried I was gonna fail… "

He nodded, and kept chewing his sandwich. If he tried to keep up with Anna, he probably wouldn't get to eat at all during their lunch break.

"-but I think things are looking up, and I might actually pass this block," Anna finally finished.

She raised her eyebrows at Kristoff. He swallowed his mouthful.

"Right, cue Kristoff. Sounds awesome, Anna."

Anna glowered at him.

"Alright, alright, seriously though. I'm glad Dr. Casimir lightened up, cause she sounded like a straight up bit-OW! What the hell Anna?! You just kicked me in the shin!" He started rubbing the battered leg furiously.

"H-Hi Elsa!" Anna was waving at some spot behind Kristoff. He turned, and looked up into the piercing eyes of Dr. Elsa Casimir. She was wearing black rimmed glasses, with silvery blonde hair done up in a bun. Slight wisps of bangs were falling down to frame her face, articulated with icy blue eyes. She wore a teal button down blouse, and her long, gorgeous legs were cloaked by a black shirt atop stunning black heels. Tall, tall heels, like four inches at least. She lowered her eyes to look at Kristoff. He gulped in response.

"Having a good lunch, Anna?"

"Yup, and this is my friend Kristoff." She made an open palm gesture at him. Kristoff, however, seemed to have difficulty trying to swallow his sandwich, process the beautiful woman in front of him and formulate a response.

"I-I-heergh. Kristoff. I.…._Ay girl, wat yo name is?"_ he finally blurted out. Elsa quirked an eyebrow. Anna looked at him in surprise.

"Hi-Kristoff, my name is Kristoff," he managed to recover.

Elsa nodded curtly.

"I'll see you in the office," she said to Anna smiling, and walked away. Anna watched Kristoff's gaze follow Elsa as she exited. She rolled her eyes.

_Males._

He turned back to Anna and slammed his palms on the table.

"Dayum, Anna, you didn't tell me the Ice Queen was crazy hot! Did you see her rack?!" She shrugged her shoulders. Unimportant information. She could've had a beard so long as she gave Anna passing marks.

"Why do you think no one has said anything about how hot she is?"

"Probably because she just slices off their boners." Anna made a quick chopping motion for emphasis. Kristoff shuddered.

"Still hot though." He let out a low whistle. "I'd hit that."

"You'd try," Anna corrected, "and fail."

Lunch break thereafter mostly consisted of Anna rolling her eyes and Kristoff commenting on Elsa's legs.

Afternoon rounds were fairly uneventful. She only had one slip up, suggesting an incorrect dose for diltiazem, which Olaf quickly corrected. Afterwards, he wrapped an arm around her, telling her not to worry about it.

"So, did Elsa ask you yet?"

"Ask me what?" she was confused.

"No? Hm, she's probably going to ask you soon. I'll remind her." And with that he walked away. Anna was perplexed, but she let the thought float out of her mind.

She stretched her arms overheard. _Finally._ The week was over, it was Friday-_Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday. Ack! Stop that Anna. _She shook her head free of the song. All she had to do was get through Elsa ravaging her notes on their patients, though her ravaging had been kind of…gentle as of late.

"Ready Anna?" Elsa was waiting for her at the end of the hall. When Anna nodded, Elsa turned on a heel and began leading the familiar route back to her office. Anna followed, walking a stride or two behind.

Kristoff was right; she had amazing legs. Her thighs were cloaked by a thin pencil skirt that lead on to shapely calves. And those heels. How did she walk in them? Anna followed the sashay of her hips as her heels clacked one in front of the other. _Goddamn, it's like a supermodel. _

Anna tried to mimic her. _Alright, left foot forward, left hip out, right foot forward, right hip out. Shoulders back. Repeat. _She was walking in time with Elsa, similarly sauntering down the corridor.

_I got this, bet I look sexy as hell too, _she thought triumphantly. Her hips swayed in time with the blonde in front of her.

_Left, right, left, right. _Anna flipped her hair for dramatic effect…and immediately regretted it. Her right ankle buckled under and she flailed her arms out in an attempt to save her balance.

"OohhOohhhhhuuh!" That failed of course, and Anna promptly slammed her shoulder into the right-side wall, her head knocking against the safety rails. Visions of Miss Congeniality swarmed her vision.

"Are you alright?" a voice of concern called out to her. It sounded like it came from the end of a train tunnel. Anna blinked twice. _Oh god that hurt. My ankle hurts. And my shoulder hurts. And my head hurts. _She looked up into Elsa's cerulean eyes. They were no longer the icy eyes Anna first met, but lighter and warmer somehow.

"And my heart hurts." _Wait, what? Was that out loud?_

_"_Are you alright?" the voice asked her again. Elsa's voice was muffled, like she was speaking through a plastic bag. Anna grabbed the outstretched hand as Elsa helped her to her feet. Instantly, a wave of dizziness hit her. Elsa wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her, draping the hand she held around her own shoulder. Anna blushed.

"I've got you, we're almost to my office," Elsa encouraged her. Anna took steady steps with Elsa's help.

"Mmm, you smell good." The hand around her waist tensed, and it was then Anna realized she said it out loud. _Whoops. Play it off._

"Ohhh my head," she moaned. She glanced over at Elsa, hoping her mentor bought it. The blonde's face betrayed no emotion.

As they crossed the threshold into Elsa's office, Anna tripped again, one hand bracing against the doorjamb, and the other grabbing onto Elsa. This time, Elsa cleared her throat.

"Hm?" Anna looked up at the woman, who was at least two inches taller than herself.

"Your hand?"

Anna looked down at her right hand on the door, than over to her left hand, which was currently holding Elsa's left breast.

"Oh my god, oh my god!"

She let go immediately, cheeks reddening. Elsa deposited her into her usual chair, a faint flush creeping across her features.

_I have just set the record for most sexual harassment cases by a student. I managed to snare a man and a woman. Is there a self destruct button on this seat?_

_"_I'm so, so sorry, Elsa! Dr. Casimir! I just panicked, and I didn't realize, and, hurt-shoul-ankle." Her head was pounding and the bright lights of Elsa's office were not helping. She couldn't string a sentence together.

"It's alright Anna, now just let me take a look at you." Gentle fingers probed her head, turning Anna's neck gently from side to side. Anna let out a contented sigh. When Elsa was satisfied, she moved onto her shoulder. Anna was still flustered from the "incident," but at least the pain in her head was starting to subside. As Elsa moved Anna's shoulder gently through the normal range of motions, she spoke up.

"What happened anyway? What were you doing?"

"Oh you know, just walking." _Smooth._

"Well, I was going to ask you something, but now I'm not so sure."

"Was this about the thing Olaf mentioned?"

Elsa's eyebrows went up. "Olaf mentioned it? He does have a big mouth."

She sighed as she pulled up a small stool. Placing Anna's foot onto her knee, she continued.

"Well, I was going to ask you to play in the Annual Arendelle Softball Tournament. We usually pair up with Dr. Kay's team downstairs, and we're short some players since we've had a couple department transfers. But after watching you crash into a wall, I'm not sure if you'll be okay for the weekend."

"Ohhhhh," was Anna's reply. Truthfully, she'd never played a softball before. _Is that right? Do you play a softball? Or do you play _with_ a softball?_ She had no idea. Actually, Anna was pretty horrendous at any sport where moving objects were involved. She could run though, she was pretty fast and she was pretty strong for her size**.** But after groping her preceptor, she didn't really want to take another opportunity to make a fool out of herself.

Elsa misinterpreted Anna's lukewarm answer. "Well I just thought I'd ask, you know, because you said that you wanted to be friends, and this would be a nice place to hang out and have some fun."

"Oh! That's not it. I'm really okay, Elsa, but I'm just not sure if I should play. It's just that I'm not very good at it. Can I think about it? " she offered as a compromise.

Elsa nodded. "Well you look fine, so let's get out of here. It's Friday." She picked up her messenger bag and began walking out the door. Anna packed her stuff up as well, remembering how far she'd come with the Ice Queen. She had come to enjoy Elsa's presence. She didn't say much, but when she did, heads snapped to attention. She had a calming, level-headed demeanor, and it helped Anna keep herself in check when she got flustered. It was pretty funny when she cut people down to size as well. Like the stupid nurse who accused Anna of messing up a IV stand. Elsa had come to her defense and chewed his ass out. _Hehehe_.

* * *

They walked out together, comfortable silence around them.

"Hey Anna!" Kristoff called over to her from the bench he was on.

"So you'll think about it?" Elsa said to her in parting.

"Think about what?" Kristoff said eagerly, joining the other two.

"A softball tournament this weekend," Anna explained. "They're short a couple play-"

"YES! We're in!" Kristoff cut across a flabbergasted Anna. Elsa chuckled.

"But-but, you weren't even invited really," Anna blustered. No one was listening to her.

"Excellent, then tomorrow at 9am, Upper Hanson Field. Here-" she reached for Anna's hand and fished a pen out of her pocket.

"Here's my number if you need anything, cleats, gloves, whatever," she said while scribbling the digits onto Anna's palm.

She shivered. _Her hands are so cold._ Elsa dropped Anna's hand and turned to leave.

Anna dumbly waved the marked palm in goodbye.

"Yes!" Kristoff whooped. "I got her number!"

Anna elbowed him. "Keep it in your pants. And you didn't get her number, I did." She waggled the marked fingers in front of him and ran away giggling.

"Come here!"

* * *

_Oh god. Oh god. Oh god._

_Why am I doing this. Waaaiiiieeeee?!_

_I hate you Kristoff._

_I'm gonna die today. Or get maimed. I will be a patient where I work._

_Fuuuuchk._

"Anna?" Kristoff's voice pulled her out of all the thoughts ping-ponging in her head.

"Isn't this exciting? Let's play some ball!" He punched a hand in his mitt for emphasis.

"No. And fuck you for dragging me into this," Anna pouted. She stared out at the grassy field before them.

No, this would not end well at all.

"Hey guys!" Olaf greeted them first. "Thanks for coming out today! Meet the rest of the team!" Kristoff was introduced to the CCU team, and Anna met the Medical Surgical team. In addition to Flynn, Hans, Oaken and Olaf, she met Dr. Kay, Eric, Philip, Jasmine and Marshmallow. She laughed at Marshmallow's name, but was pretty sure she only got away with it cause she was a girl. When she asked about his real name, everybody shushed her.

People everywhere were getting warmed up. She saw some jogging and stretching in the outfield, some taking practice swings, and some tossing a ball back and forth. Except tossing wasn't the appropriate word. Firing laser beams would've been more appropriate. She cursed Kristoff again.

_Fuck! Why are they throwing so hard?! Am I allowed to wear armor in this game? I can't get hit in the face! I don't have any other redeeming qualities! My face is my best asset!_

Anna looked around. Where was Elsa, the other person responsible for this mess? And then she saw her. Anna suddenly forgot that she was miffed at Elsa.

Elsa was propped up against the fence, talking to the referee or umpire or whatever-it-was-called. There were no pencil skirts to hide her legs anymore; instead everything was on display with some short blue track shorts. She followed those legs up.

Elsa's figure was no longer left to imagination. She had a slim fitting white t-shirt on, and a glove tucked under her left arm. She had the body of an athlete, but every curve was still delicately feminine. Instead of the usual tight bun, her hair was down in a single braid over her shoulder, bangs pushed away from her face. She turned and began walking towards the dugout, towards Anna.

She still had the supermodel walk in cleats. Anna couldn't help herself. She decided at that moment that Elsa, did indeed, have some very nice anatomy. She always looked pretty and very professional, but something about seeing Elsa in sweaty workout clothes instantly made her sexy and infinitely more attractive.

"Wow! Elsa, you look-"

_What do I say here? Hot. Sexy. Beautiful. GORGEOUS._

_"-_different." _Oh. My. God. _

"It's a good different." _Words! I need words!_

Luckily, Elsa seemed indifferent to her awkwardness.

"Thank you." She smiled at Anna as she walked past.

Anna felt a warmth in her cheeks and was thankful for the heat out so she could blame her blush on something else. A warmth between her legs though, could not be explained away so easily.

_Shit. I am seriously turned on right now. Wait. What? I'm turned on by Elsa?_

She looked at Elsa again. Hair a sexy mess on her head, hand propped up on a jutting hip.

_Yup. Turned on right now._

She groaned. She was finally getting over being on pins and needles half the time around Elsa. Now she had to be nervous AND aroused?!

_Fuck,_ she thought to herself, cursing everything from Kristoff's lucky batting glove to greek yogurt.

* * *

The first game was the CCU/MedSurg team versus the ER team. Anna was grateful that they let her be the catcher. It was simple enough. Stand behind the batter, pick up the ball from the ground after it's pitched, throw it back. She could do that.

Elsa, however, was a different story. She was playing second base, and she was amazing at it. Anna was mesmerized. Elsa's lithe form glided gracefully around the diamond, scooping up balls effortlessly. She threw harder than Flynn, ran faster than Hans and could hit almost as far as Oaken. Anna only had one word in her extensive vocabulary to describe it.

_Damn._

"Phew," Elsa sighed, wiping her brow and sitting down, "it is hot out there."

_Hot in here too._

"So what do you think? Are you enjoying it?"

"It's good," Anna commented, "I just don't tend to do well anytime there's moving balls in my face."

Elsa's eyebrows shot up. Anna realized her double entendre.

"Oh god, I just mean that I suck at sports in general, especially anything with sticks and soft balls." Her face turned red. "I'm just gonna stop talking now." She deliberately looked away from Elsa.

Then Anna heard one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. Elsa was laughing. A no holds barred, mouth open, head back, clutch your sides laugh. Anna had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she'd like to hear this laughter everyday. Even if she was the cause. Like right now.

Because Elsa was definitely laughing at her, not with her, and everyone in the dugout was turning to stare. Anna leaned back, arms crossed, lower lip in a pout.

"Anna, you're up," Flynn called, saving her from further embarrassment. Oaken pushed her out the dugout as Olaf thrust a bat in her arms. Anna stood inside the designated white box, gripping the bat with two hands.

_Alright Anna, you can do this. Bat to ball. Bat to ball. Swing! -and miss._

Anna missed the first pitch, and the second. The rest of the day went more or less like that. Stand up, swing at air, sit back down. The team was very understanding though, and no one gave her a hard time about it.

Kristoff and Elsa though, were the real superstars of the team. Having played baseball in college, Kristoff was a machine. He was all over the place. He hit home runs and he made diving plays. Anna could hear the nurses from the ICU "ooohing" and "ahhing" whenever he did something.

Elsa was equally as talented, though not as brutish. She ran around the bases with amazing speed, and tracked down balls that looked to be sure hits. Elsa's talent was making very difficult plays look routine. She made some plays that Anna couldn't even see her feet. That earned Elsa a few wolf whistles from the crowd.

When the day ended, the CCU/MedSurg team (or as as Hans liked to call it, Team CUMS) was sitting in the semi-final bracket. Anna took off her cleats and shook the dirt out of it.

"Here," someone was holding a bottle of water in front of Anna's face. She grabbed it as Elsa sat down next to her.

"Good job today," she said, pushing her hair back from her face. _THAT will be the death of me. How does she make something like that so…enticing? How did I ever not notice it before?_

_"_It's okay, you don't have to lie, I know I suck," Anna replied. Elsa grinned.

"No you don't, and considering where we started with Hans, you're much better off." She jerked a lazy thumb towards him. He was hunched over his cleats, picking blades of grass out of them, muttering something about Peruvian lamb leather and 'uncouth youths'.

"If you'd like, I could teach you a little." Anna noticed Elsa fiddling with her thumbs. _Cute._

"Sure." Anna smiled.

"Hey guys," Flynn greeted them with his hands upon each girl's head. Elsa flicked his hand away with a "tsk."

"We're gonna grab some drinks at The Trading Post. You guys in?"

"We'll catch up, I'm gonna teach Anna how to swing the bat like a real girl."

"Greeeeat, she's gonna hit like a girl," he said mockingly.

"You throw like a boy!" she yelled as she threw her water bottle at him. Flynn danced away laughing. Elsa looked back at Anna grinning.

"Shall we get started?"

Elsa had managed to find a tee and some practice balls. She faced it towards the backstop, making Anna hit into the fence. Elsa slowly coached Anna into the correct stance.

"Yeah just like that, you throw the barrel towards the ball. Use your hips for power. Here, I'll show you." She took the bat out of Anna's hands and stood at the tee.

"Wait," Anna said confused. "I thought you were batting from the other side today." Elsa looked down at the box.

"Oh yeah, I'm naturally left-handed, but I'm a switch hitter." Anna blushed at the innuendo, intended or not.

"Just like this," Elsa demonstrated a swing. "Now your turn, come here." She motioned in front of her. Elsa put the bat back in Anna's hands and stood behind her. Pale hands over freckled ones, Elsa guided Anna through the correct range of motion.

Anna couldn't concentrate. Not when her mentor smelled like minty deliciousness and an icy cold Frosty. And when she could feel her breasts pressed into her back.

_She can probably hear my heart racing. Why does she always smell so good? My ears are ringing. Are my ears __ringing?_

"Now don't let the hips fall behind," Elsa released Anna's hands, and coming to rest on Anna's hips. "They have to turn, like this!" Elsa twisted Anna's hips for her.

_Her hands are on my ass. _

"U-uh, I don't think I can do this," Anna stuttered. Her hands were clammy and her heart was hammering. Elsa was undeterred.

"You can do it, you just have to believe. Come on, you Muggle! Believe!"

"O-okay," and Anna swung the bat, spurred on by the Potter encouragement.

"Perfect," Elsa's voice said in her ear. The taller girl had tucked her chin on Anna's shoulder, arms wrapped completely around her. Anna's face was getting hot, the ringing in her ears deafening. Her chest was struggling to contain her thumping heart. She blinked; her vision had become hazy and she suddenly felt dizzy. Just when she felt like she was going to faint, Elsa released her.

"I think we're good for today, you wanna meet up with the rest of the guys?"

"O-o-oh, yeah," Anna responded shakily.

* * *

**_Wow! I'm amazed at all the new follows! Always thanks for R&Ring!_**

**_So this update took a while to get done, because I was out of town on a camping trip. Yes, very similar to last chapter. Funny thing was, it was SO BITCHIN COLD that I actually ended up sharing a tent with some girls I just met. And yes, it was so cold I had to cuddle with a cute one. Hahaha. Actually, she reminded me of Anna. She was so oblivious and adorable and tried to hold your hand all the time. Maybe I'll use this as fluff later, or write a short one shot. Idk. Haha._**


	7. Touchdown Overturned

The Trading Post was a bar a couple blocks away from the park. The two girls had spent the walk in mostly silence, littered with the occasional small talk. When they reached the establishment, Elsa headed to the group of familiar faces. Anna instead headed directly up to the bar and ordered a shot and a beer.

She needed something in her system now. Something that would hit her hard and fast and calm her the fuck down. Her emotions were toying with her at the moment, making simple speech difficult, and causing her to want to jump the pants off her mentor. She quickly downed the shot, without a chaser, and grabbed her beer. She chose not to sit with the rest of the team, but at a separate, empty table a few feet away.

Anna blew out a breath between puffed cheeks, staring into the brown liquid as if it could somehow tell her the secrets of the universe. She looked over at Elsa, who was now clinking cups with Olaf and Hans. She blew out another breath. She signaled the bartender for another shot.

"My dear, someone is acting quite emo today," Kristoff said joining her. "I mean, I know you suck at softball, but really, it shouldn't be enough to make you want to drink yourself to oblivion."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I really don't like you sometimes, you know that right?" She downed the newly appearing shot, grimacing as the liquid burned on its way down.

He laughed. "That I do missy, but you love me in equal amounts as well." Anna stuck out a pouty lip in return.

"Seriously though, what's up? You're sitting over here with that whole 'Part of Your World' look going on."

"What?"

"You know," he explained, getting up from his seat. "'Up where they walk, up where they run," he sang in a teasing voice. Anna tried to press a hand over his mouth. He pushed her thin arm out of the way and continued.

"Up where they play all day in the sun," he had to hold Anna's hands down and away, "wandering free, wish I could be—"

He ignored the glare Anna was giving him and geared up for the big finish.

"Part of that wooooooorld!" People were starting to look around at the noise they were making. Kristoff let go of Anna's wrists, and she sat back in her chair with a huff, arms crossed.

"I hate you so much right now," she pouted.

"Hey, I'm gonna trip over that lip if you keep pouting like that," Kristoff chuckled. "Okay, enough joking around, I know something's wrong. Now what's up?"

"How could you know that?"

He pointed at her beer. "Because Anna Stevens does not nurse beers. And if she is thinking about doing this more often, she might want to switch professions."

Just like that, Anna forgot about her mock tantrum against Kristoff. "You know me too well," she conceded._ Sometimes I hate his mind reading skills. _"But why should I tell you anything?"

He threw his hands up, fingers wide. "Come on, who better to ask then The Love Expert?" When Anna rolled her eyes, he persisted.

"So who is it? Flynn? Cause the guy is a good-looking dude, but I'm pretty sure he's a little too old for you." Anna shook her head.

"Hans? It better not be him. He's GQ cover quality, but I heard him talking about exfoliation and herb growing courses. And he has a rhino skin wallet. You don't want to go down that road. You don't even have a wallet."

Anna gave him an indignant look. "I do so have a wallet!"

"A Ziploc bag is not a wallet!"

She pulled out the sandwich-sized bag. It contained her ID, credit cards, and some cash. All the essentials.

"What's wrong with it? It's got everything I need, and it keeps everything dry."

Kristoff pressed a hand to his head. "Anyway, so not Hans, Olaf?" he continued.

Anna shook her head again, and Kristoff kept going down the list.

"Oaken?"

"No."

"Sven?! He's married!"

"No!"

"Then…that leaves…." His eyebrows rose further and further into his hairline, comprehension dawning on his face. Anna saved him the words.

"Kristoff, I think I've got the hots for my mentor."

"Elsa?" His face wore a look of complete incredulity. "Elsa?!" his voice became a hoarse, high-pitched whisper.

Anna shrugged her shoulders and gave him an apologetic look. She didn't know what else to say to him. She could feel her face reddening, hot as a fire. She turned her gaze back to her beer, not wanting to face his scrutiny eye to eye.

Kristoff let out a low whistle. "Damn."

Anna still couldn't face him. Wood creaked as she heard him lean back in his chair, arms going behind his head.

"Shit, you sure do aim for the top don't you?"

Anna slowly turned to him, confused.

"I mean, you chose to have your 'lesbihonest' moment with the single hottest woman in the hospital, not to mention she's off limits cause she's your mentor. Can't blame you though, she's hot enough to turn anyone gay, or straight, for that matter. I mean, look at those two." He pointed towards another table. Gaston and LeFou were holding hands, but they were dreamily staring at the nearby, deliciously sweaty blonde.

"Oh. Well that's odd," Anna said. "So you're not weirded out or anything?"

Kristoff cocked his head at her. "Of course not, we're still best friends," he said smiling. "If this works out though, I may have to get some tips from you. Cause it's gonna take some serious game to snag her."

Anna turned her gaze back to the group. Flynn had a loose arm around Elsa's shoulders, and he was talking animatedly with Oaken. Elsa turned to look at Anna. She tilted her head slightly and cast a closed mouth smile her way.

"Yeah, tremendous game."

"Does she even like girls?"

"No idea, probably not." Anna buried her head in her arms. "She did say she was a switch hitter," she added, the sound muffled.

"Well, looks like I have some reconnaissance to do."

Anna looked up, alarmed. "Kristoff, don't you dare," she threatened.

"Relax, don't worry about it. I'm the King of Sly."

Anna highly doubted that, but didn't argue.

"Come on, let's join the rest of them," he pulled Anna to her feet, and she followed him.

Anna attempted to keep a close watch over Kristoff for the rest of the evening. He had animated conversations with Flynn and Olaf, though Anna couldn't hear exactly what they were talking about.

Plus, the added distraction of Elsa trying to converse with her was making everything infinitely more difficult. Anna caught tidbits here and there, and nodded every once in a while. She'd hear a key word here and there, like "championship" or "all-star." Her buzz was making listening difficult. All she saw was Elsa in front of her. The quirked eyebrow. The half-sided grin. The way she pushed her hair off her face. It was all so decidedly Elsa.

"So is that a yes?" Elsa had asked her a question. _Shit._

_I'd probably say yes to anything you asked me at this point._

"Um, sorry. Couldn't hear you."

_Whoops. That was a mistake._

Because to rectify the situation, Elsa leaned in close, her breath in Anna's ear_._

"I said, are you coming for the games tomorrow?"

Anna reacted reflexively. She put a hand up to Elsa's face, pushing her away. "That tickles!" and she laughed until she saw exactly where her hand was.

She had face-palmed Elsa. Anna's hand was holding Elsa's face like she was Lebron palming a basketball. She released her hold on Elsa immediately, staring at her hand for betraying her like that.

Elsa simply laughed it way. The laugh traveled from Anna's ears all the way to her toes, making her giggle as well. Elsa rose from her seat, chair sliding against the grimy floor.

"You leaving already?"

Elsa turned back to Anna. "It's 11:30, and we play tomorrow at 8am. You should probably head home as well. It's the semis and the championship. We have a title to uphold." She finished it off with the wink.

Anna playfully put up a hand to catch the wink, then pressed it to her heart. Elsa gave a little scoff, shook her head, and walked away.

_Oh my god. Why did I do that? Why are you betraying me so much tonight Ms. Right Hand?_

* * *

Elsa was grinning like a fool, slapping high fives on any hand she saw in front of her. For the third year in a row, Team CUMS had repeated as champs. She was even chosen as MVP for the tournament. As the mass of bodies celebrated on the area near home plate, Elsa looked for a single person in the mob.

The sea of people moved back and forth, and when they parted, she spotted her across the diamond. The head of auburn hair amongst a sea of blondes and brunettes. She was laughing, enjoying a hug with Kristoff. Elsa's mind whirred into overdrive. It presented a fantasy where she strode up to Anna and took her in her arms, lifting her off her feet in a hug. She would twirl her once, and Anna would wrap her legs around Elsa's waist. The redhead would then lift her hands to Elsa's face, pulling their faces together in a kiss. They would-

"ELSA!" Olaf pulled her into a deep hug. "You were amazing!" Elsa smiled and returned the hug. She looked back to where Anna had been, but the sea of people had closed once again and she was gone.

Flynn now appeared, with Hans close behind. "So, are we still watching the game today?"

_That's right. _Elsa forgot that on Sundays, everyone came over to watch the football game at her place. It wasn't that she had the nicest place; she was just the one with the biggest TV. And air conditioning.

"Yeah man, watching the game with all my brethren is the peak of masculinity. I already prepped hors d'ourves. Even used Hawaiian caught Mahi Mahi and some Japanese truffles I had lying around," Hans said casually. Elsa wondered how anyone had truffles "laying around," but decided not to comment on it.

"Of course, then we can celebrate more!" she said with a smile. Flynn, Olaf and Hans responded with a raucous cheer, joined by the sudden emergence of Oaken and Sven.

"Whoa, what's going on here?" Anna ducked under someone's arm, pulling Kristoff along with her.

"Ah Anna my dear, you should join us too!" Flynn joyously added. "We're going over to Elsa's to watch the football game. And Kristoff, you must come as well! We wouldn't have won without your talents! Right, Els?" She shot him a look. He raised a smarmy eyebrow in response.

"Yeah, of course," she said half-heartedly. "I'll text you the address. Kickoff is at 5:30."

* * *

Anna was going to be at her place.

Elsa looked at the clock. _5:00 pm._

She still had some time before everyone was coming over. Glancing over her apartment quickly, she deemed it acceptable. There were no clothes thrown haphazardly, dishes were clear and –she did a quick sniff test- there were no weird smells.

Elsa felt nervous, and she knew why. _Anna._ Anna was coming, and though she normally didn't give a crap about the condition of her apartment when the guys came over, knowing that Anna would see how she lived had her uptight. She just had a stupid urge to impress her.

_Elsa, you asshole. Why did you flirt like that with her yesterday? I mean, seriously? Coach her through a swing like a pervy tennis coach? Ugh. _She flopped on the couch and threw an arm over her eyes.

Except it had been so easy, and a perfect excuse to get behind Anna and cuddle standing up. But it had made Anna uncomfortable, and so she let her go. _Yup, I am the pervy tennis coach. Everyone knows you don't show someone how to do something from behind unless you want to get in their pant(ie)s. What are you doing, Elsa? Anna's impulsive. She might actually give in, even if she isn't into girls. You're supposed to be the mature, controlled one. Why are you setting yourself up to fall?_

She groaned and peeked at the clock again. _5:02 pm._

_I need to calm down. Think of something else. _She tried. She couldn't. Her mind raced from thought to thought as the minutes ticked by.

_5:03p I hope she likes pizza. Everybody like pizza. What if she doesn't like pizza?_

_5:04p Does she think I groped her yesterday? Cause I was totally trying._

_5:05p What if we happen to kiss tonight?_

_5:06p We'll never, ever, ever kiss_

_5:07p I should brush my teeth, just in case. _

_5:08p What is wrong with you?_

_5:09p –baby you light up my world like nobody else—_

_5:10p Godamnit Pandora_

_5:11p Is it too late to cancel everything?_

The doorbell rang. She looked at the clock. _5:12 pm. Damn they're early today._

She opened the door…to Anna.

"Hi," she said sheepishly. "Hope I'm not late."

"Ah no," said Elsa, stepping aside to allow her in. _Actually you're kinda early. _

"I brought some beer," Anna held up a plastic bag, "and some hards, in case you don't like beer," she held up a different plastic bag.

"Thanks," was all Elsa managed. She coughed and tried to clear her throat.

"Oh and Kristoff just texted me on the way over, he's not gonna make it," Anna waved her phone like the message would pop out of it if she did.

"Okay, no problem," Elsa said. "The guys should be coming over soon, so I'm going to order the pizza now, what do you like?"

"Hmm," Anna looked thoughtful. "Pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, olives, Canadian bacon, bell peppers, onions, and lots of cheese."

Elsa paused. "Oh kaaaay, so I'll just order 'Everything.'" Anna beamed.

"Oh hang on, I just got a bunch of messages." Elsa opened up the messenger app on her phone.

_**Flynn**_

_5:16p My bad Els. Can't make it tonight_

_**Hans**_

_5:16p Yo Elsa. Not coming bro. Intense documentary on dolphin mating tonight._

_**Olaf**_

_5:15p Hi! I wanted to come tonight, but I was told that I had to find other things to do. Sorry!_

_**Oaken**_

_5:15p Hoo hoo! Apologies ya, but I won't be there_

_**Sven**_

_5:15p Sorry Elsa, can't make it, sore stomach. Think I ate some bad carrots._

_No, no, no, _she thought as she scrolled to each new message._ These motherfuckers._

She looked at Anna, who was peering curiously back at her. She remembered that Kristoff backed out as well. She gritted her teeth.

_Flynn. _This was his cockamamie idea; she could already tell. They were locking her up with Anna, in hopes that, what? She would push Anna into the bedroom and have rough, steamy sex all night?

Nice idea, but it wasn't going to happen. _Flirting maybe, _she thought deviously, _fucking, out of the question._

She put her hands over her eyes. _Crap._

"Elsa, is everything okay?" Anna was looking at her worriedly.

"Huh, oh, yeah, it's okay, just that, everyone suddenly had something come up." She was holding her phone like a dirty napkin.

"So it's just me and you?"

"Mmm, sorry to disappoint you," she said looking at Anna, waiting to see her reaction. The redhead looked back, a little wide-eyed, mouth curved to a little 'O.' Elsa found herself captivated by Anna's teal orbs, unable to look away, even though she wanted to._ What was she thinking? _ _Is she disappointed? _Anna wasn't simply just staring, there was something whirring behind her eyes, but she didn't say anything. Finally, Anna broke eye contact, and the tension was lost.

"Let's get ordering that pizza then," she said smiling, and plopped herself on the couch.

* * *

"NOOOOOO!" Anna yelled. "Why would you do that, you moron?!" Anna jumped up from her seat on the couch, nearly spilling her beer and almost knocking over Elsa's.

"He had to throw it away, all his reads were covered," Elsa said matter-of-factly beside Anna. The redhead turned to look at her, mouth slightly agape.

"You-you know about football too?"

Elsa shrugged her shoulders. "I like sports," she said indifferently. She took a sip of her beer.

"I like sports too, but that doesn't mean I know what's going on! Teach me!" she said gleefully, dropping herself closer to Elsa. The blonde tensed, but didn't move away.

"So how does this 'down' thing work?"

Elsa swallowed thickly. "Well, the offense has four plays to advance the ball ten yards." She cleared her throat. "Basically, though, they'll use three of those plays, aka downs, to try and move the ball. If they don't get the ten yards, they'll use the fourth to punt or kick a field goal." She looked at Anna.

The redhead's face was scrunched up in a grimace, eyes squinted, trying to process all the information Elsa just threw at her. It was endearing. _I didn't even know they made humans this adorable. _Elsa let out a little giggle, and Anna turned on her.

"Hey don't laugh at me, I'm gonna get this. Okay, so how come they throw it sometimes and how come sometimes a guy runs with it?"

"Well, that's up to the offense, if they pass, they can usually gain a lot of yards, but they leave themselves up for interceptions, whereas if they run, they don't get as many yards, but the gain is more reliable."

Anna's face was screwed up in concentration again. "Okay, okay, I think I got it. So higher risk, higher reward kind of thing right?" She looked back to Elsa for confirmation, biting her lip slightly.

Elsa nodded her head. She would've given verbal affirmation if she could, but Anna's habit of biting her lip was robbing her of the ability to speak.

_It's cute. It's adorable. But why is it so enticingly HOT at the same time? _Elsa's moral compass was having difficulty keeping up with the battle her brain and libido were waging._ She's a student. She's an adult. It's wrong. It's perfectly alright. She's beautiful. _At least all parts of her could agree on that statement.

_Fuck me._

_Control yourself, you hormonal monster._

Anna let out another whoop and brought Elsa back to the present. The doorbell rang, indicating the pizza had arrived, and the girls dove in to the cheesy goodness.

All game, Anna peppered Elsa with questions about football, and Elsa would do her best to explain the plays to Anna. She suddenly had a feeling of exactly what all her students went through when she put them through the gauntlet.

"OOoohhhaa!" Anna jumped up as a receiver broke free and ran for a touchdown. "Home run!"

"Touchdown," Elsa corrected her, but Anna was too busy doing a celebratory dance to hear. Elsa just shook her head and smiled as she pressed the bottle to her lips.

"WHY?!" Anna yelled at the television. "He scored points! Put the points on the board!" She rounded on Elsa. "Did you see that?! They took his points away!"

Elsa was torn between a variety of emotions. On one hand, she wanted to laugh, because Angry Anna was just too absolutely cute, on the other hand, she wanted to run, because Angry Anna was yelling at her, and finally, she just wanted to grab those Angry Anna pouty lips and kiss them into oblivion.

She chose the first option. Chuckling, she made Anna sit down and she explained the situation.

"Someone on the offensive team was holding, so they whole play is negated."

Anna wasn't satisfied. "But they're all holding! Look, everybody's holding each other!"

"Yeah I know," Elsa said gently, "But there are certain things you can't do."

"Yeah," Anna said grumpily. "Like what?" She slumped back into the couch.

Elsa grabbed Anna's hands and pulled her back to her feet. "You can hold them here," putting Anna's hands just near her armpits, "but you can't hold them like this," and Elsa encircled her arms all the way around Anna, holding the girl in a mock tackle. Elsa had a nagging feeling that she was going to regret getting in that position.

"Hah, okay," said Anna, and she pushed Elsa back onto the couch, falling on top of her. Elsa gasped in surprise. "But I think I like this kind of holding better."

Elsa looked down at Anna, the evident blush spreading over her face. "What are you doing?!"

"What? I thought you said if I cuddled with you more, you might give me a passing grade." Anna stuck out a pouty lip and blinked with her best puppy eyes.

Elsa opened and closed her mouth like a fish. _Is she flirting right now? _Libido and morality took up arms once again. _You're gonna regret this. But she's so warm. It's only innocent cuddling. You got through it once. It'll be okay._

_Control._

Except every time Anna got within close proximity of Elsa, all of the blonde's icy façade fell away. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't resist this clumsy, bumbling mess of adorableness. Elsa had made it a rule to never fall for her students, but somehow this caring, humble, awkwardly innocent girl had penetrated all her defenses. Her dirty mouth clashing with her childlike twin braids. Her clumsiness undoing the simple grace of her amazingly sexy body. And she had freckles. How the hell was Elsa supposed to resist that?

"Fine," Elsa huffed in mock indignation, sitting up and readjusting a pillow behind her. Anna shifted so that she sidled up against Elsa's side, her legs curled up and knees resting on Elsa's legs. She propped an elbow on the back of the couch, leaning into Elsa, but her head decidedly turned towards the television.

* * *

_I could get used to this, _thought Anna, still curled up against Elsa, watching the football game.

_No, Anna. Bad Anna, she's your mentor. Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol. _

_But she's so beautiful. No, this was definitely not the alcohol._

Anna looked at Elsa. She was striking. Sure, she was attractive in all the conventional ways. Her skin was perfect porcelain, and her hair was sexily untamed. Her eyes were an alluring cerulean and her lips had a beautiful gloss to them. Her body was perfect, curvy and athletic. _It really is a Wonderland._

But she was so much more than that. There was a hard exterior, but underneath was warmth, and even nervousness. Anna loved the way her brows furrowed when she concentrated or was angry. _She even furrowed her brows when she wasn't sure if she should be smiling._ Anna smirked when she remembered her fear of heights and awkward rock climbing. She wasn't an Ice Queen. She actually had a lot of love, though she was reluctant to show it. Anna could see it in the way she cared for her patients. Every single person's life mattered to her. _Probably even mine, _Anna thought. There was no other word for it. Elsa was beautiful.

She found those stunning eyes looking back at her, and it was then she realized she was staring. The whole world seemed to stop. All Anna wanted to do at the moment was taste those lips, those perfect, perfect lips. She felt a soft hand on her cheek; Elsa was grazing her fingers over her skin. She leaned into the hand. Her eyes were shining, and Anna knew they were filled with want, but there was something else there. _What was it?_ _Apprehension?_

She pushed the thought out of her head as her eyes fell closed, their faces drifting towards one another. Seconds passed as she anticipated the touch of those soft, soft lips on hers.

_Too many seconds. Far too many seconds. _

Finally, she opened her eyes. Those icy blue eyes were still staring back at her, unmoving.

* * *

_**Some of you have been asking what my background is. I'm not gonna confirm whether or not I'm a med student/doctor, or whether I work in a hospital. It's just safer for me (we can get if trouble for this kind of thing. Weird, I know). But suffice to say 95% of what is written is first hand knowledge, and the other 5%, I ask a friend for their input. There might be a few liberties taken here and there, but almost all true. Okay? :D**_

_**Fun fact: I have anywhere from 4-5 chapters written in advance at any given point, but I don't put them up so I have room to go back and edit chapters as needed. So don't leave me! haha Thanks for reading guys!**_


	8. Tachycardia

_Oh my god. Oh my god. She's straight. She must be straight!_

Anna's brain presented what seemed to her the most logical situation. Because Elsa did not kiss her as Anna had expected, but stopped halfway, staring at Anna with still eyes.

_I just tried to kiss Elsa. My mentor. My straight Elsa—I mean, mentor. Oh god._

Elsa was now rising from the couch, refusing to look at Anna. She turned her back on the younger girl.

_Fear. It was fear in her eyes. Fear of me._

"Elsa," she began, but the blonde girl cut her off. She refused to face Anna, as if somehow not seeing Anna would make the redhead disappear.

"I-I think you should go," she said, arms folded over her waist, shoulders hunched. Her breath was shallow, and her words rolling out in staccatoed gasps. Anna took a tentative step towards the older girl. She didn't know how to fix this. She'd just royally screwed up.

"Elsa, please," Anna tried to pull her back, but she was again cut off. Elsa thrust a hand out at her.

"Just go," Elsa said. It was soft, but firm, and Anna knew then that nothing she said was going to make anything better. So she grabbed her things and turned to the door, unsure of how she was ever going to fix this mess. Her thoughts were jumbled; mindless feelings coming to her in a frenzy.

_What just happened? I….what did I do? I just screwed up a friendship…and I'll probably fail this block._

She stepped out into the cold air of the night, blinking harshly, refusing to let any tears spill out onto the concrete.

* * *

Anna hadn't slept. She was a mess, and she knew it. She had lay awake, replaying the evening in her head. How had the night turned from such blissful fun to absolute disaster? How had she gone from nearly sitting on Elsa's lap to getting thrown out two minutes later?

Elsa had wanted to kiss her, she'd finally come to that conclusion around 2:30 am, but something was holding her back. _What was she afraid of?_

She got to the hospital a little earlier than usual, intending to talk to Elsa. She heard movement behind her door and knocked. The shuffling stopped.

"Who is it?" Elsa's voice was tentative, not at all like the usual confidence the woman radiated.

"It's Anna, can we talk?" There was a pause, and Anna heard nothing, save for the ringing of complete silence in her ears. Silence truly was deafening. Quiet when you desperately wanted to hear a voice was torture. She could practically see Elsa through the door. Elsa's cobalt eyes were probably boring holes through it, threatening to stare it to defeat.

"Anna, I-uh-just meet at 8 at the CCU for rounds." Elsa's voice was soft, fragile, like small snow icicles that might break if you touched them.

"Please Elsa, can we just talk?" she implored once more. She had barely finished her plea when a sharp retort cut her straight to the heart.

"Just meet for rounds!" and just like that, Anna was back on the outside with the Ice Queen.

* * *

The tension was almost palpable. A fog was practically visible as Anna entered the room where the rest of the team was already waiting. From the outside, nothing looked amiss. Flynn still cracked jokes, Hans still gazed in the mirror excessively, and Elsa still commanded the team with amazing efficiency. But she no longer looked Anna's way, no longer gave Anna those little half smiles that made her heart leap. She didn't even scream at Anna to find an answer to a ridiculous question.

No, it was far worse. Elsa was shutting her out. The feeling of complete despondence was beginning to settle over Anna's shoulders, weighing her down. She blinked, and her eyelashes felt wet.

_Oh god Anna. Pull it together._

Lunch was horrible. Anna couldn't find the appetite to push food down. It was unusual really. Save for a few bouts of the flu, she always ate whole-heartedly. Olaf seemed to have taken notice.

"Anna, what's wrong? You're not eating."

She glanced up, giving him a lame excuse. "Oh, you know, the food is just bland." Anna reached out to grab the salt shaker, playing along with her little lie. She screeched in surprise when she felt another hand enclose around her own.

Elsa, at the other end of the table, had decided at that moment to also grab the shaker. If she had just looked Anna's way, instead of her absolute insistence on refusing to acknowledge Anna's presence, she would've seen the forlorn redhead.

Anna squawked, and the shaker went flying somewhere a few feet behind her. It hit one of the janitors in the knee. Anna looked around, going from wide eye to wide eye. Her gaze came to rest on Elsa, but the blonde wasn't looking at her. She was determinedly looking at her food, a crease lining her brow. _Still? _Anna couldn't take the lock out any longer, and with hurried apologies, she grabbed her tray and left the lunch room.

* * *

Elsa was ignoring her. She knew that. She was doing worse than ignoring her, really. She was sealing her out completely. Elsa was treating her just like her asshole students, for lack of a better phrase.

But after last night, Elsa didn't want to take any chances with Anna. Somehow, she had let the redhead in, and she had fallen. Maybe not hard, maybe not all the way, but she wanted Anna. Elsa wanted Anna now and despite all her reservations, she was almost ready to give up completely.

_No, _she told herself. _You can keep yourself in check. _It was safer and easier to just pretend Anna didn't exist than try to cohabitate with her. Don't look at her, don't talk to her, don't want her. She was handling the situation like a child, but the forgone conclusion was that any other situation would involve trying to bed Anna.

Elsa went about her business, ordering the staff around, pretending as if she wasn't breaking someone's heart at that very moment. Pretending as if she wasn't tearing out her own heart as well.

She cast a sidelong glance at Anna. The girl was giving her constant worried looks. _It's like I kicked a puppy_.

"Oh, I don't feel so good." Anna's eyelids fluttered as her eyes rolled back. Her hands went out to her sides, grasping at air. Anna's body swayed a bit, stumbling in place as she let out breathy gasps. Then, at once, her knees buckled, and she fainted.

Elsa managed to catch her before the redhead fell to the ground, and put her in a nearby seat.

The girl was pale. Her skin was almost the same color as the doctor's coat she was wearing. Elsa picked up her hand. Even her skin was clammy.

"Anna, what's wrong?" she asked anxiously. "Do you want to be checked in downstairs for observation?" _This is all my fault._

The younger girl lifted a hand and waved her off. "No, I think I'm okay. If it's okay with you, I'd just like to rest for a while."

Elsa nodded. She held out a hand, and after Anna took it, gingerly helped her to her feet. She turned to the rest of the team.

"I'm going to take Anna to rest in my office. Flynn, do you mind leading the rest of the rounds?"

He shook his head, "Not a problem, I'll page you if you we have any emergencies."

As much as she would've preferred someone else escort Anna, the redhead was her student, as well as her responsibility. She couldn't push it off on to someone else simply because her high school urges were nearly uncontrollable. _And you're a dumbass, _she thought bitterly.

Elsa looked over to the girl on her right. Her gait was a little wobbly, and her eyes were drifting open and shut. Ignoring the anxiety that threatened her, she wrapped a hand around Anna's waist to steady her. The redhead naturally draped her arm around Elsa's shoulder.

Elsa worried silently the rest of the walk back, wanting to get Anna somewhere to rest. She was also desperate to disengage Anna from herself, and relieve the tension that was building in her core and causing the lump in her throat.

They entered Elsa's office, and the blonde released her hold on Anna. She shut the door, and was surprised when a hand reached over and locked it.

"Anna?" she looked up. Anna no longer looked sickly; in fact, she looked as if nothing had happened at all. Her eyes were focused, posture straight, and her feet steady.

"What's going on? Are you all right?" Elsa was a little worried now. _So she faked the whole thing? Just to talk to me?_

"Are _you_ alright Elsa?" Anna bit her lip. "You've been avoiding me, I know."

Elsa didn't even bother trying to deny it.

"I thought about it all night-"

_I have too, _Elsa thought_._

"-and I know why you stopped. You can't do it. Cause I'm you're student. And you're my mentor. We're only supposed to be that. Strictly professional. But I want more, and I know the implications it brings."

Anna was looking straight into Elsa's blue eyes, unflinching. Elsa couldn't form a retort. Anna's piercing stare was shackling her. The redhead let out a deep breath, steadying herself.

"There's something here though, between us. I feel it, and I know you feel it too." She took Elsa's hand in hers, and the older girl found that she couldn't pull away, but she dropped her gaze. "I'm sorry, I suck at words. I'm terrible at explaining myself, or what I want, but I'm gonna try.

"I didn't know it, but I was attracted to you from the very start. Everything you do, you just draw me deeper and deeper in. I can't help it; I want you.

"I see it in your eyes, Elsa. You want this too." Elsa turned back to Anna, a piteous look upon her face.

_I want this. I want this so badly. But I can't! You're my student! I can't! If this gets out…_

"I can't protect you, Anna," she managed to get out.

"I'm not afraid, Elsa." The blonde could see the fire in Anna's eyes; she wasn't lying. Whatever they were diving headlong into, Anna most definitely was not scared.

"I know you would've never made the first move, because you can't. So I'm here, doing it for you. I'm yours, if you want me."

Elsa looked down at the hand holding hers. She felt like such a coward. The fears within her were clashing with the desire she had for Anna. It was pulling her to and fro, like a small boat in a storm. Even breathing seemed like such an arduous task.

Elsa felt the warmth emanating from the palm within hers. She made her decision. Slowly, as if their connected arms were a lifeline, she pulled herself to Anna.

Anna. She was her guide, and she could follow her out of this storm. Never breaking eye contact, cobalt on cerulean, Elsa came within inches of Anna's freckled face. She tilted her head to the side slightly, her eyes sliding shut.

The first thing Elsa could remember was softness. Anna's lips were so soft. She inhaled through her nose and the intoxicating scent of fruits and flowers flooded her brain. Her mind blanked. The only thing on Elsa's mind was that the beautiful girl in front of her was kissing her. She reluctantly pulled back.

_How long was that? Seconds? Minutes? Hours?_

Anna released Elsa's hand, and the blonde flinched from the loss of contact. She was right; Anna was absolutely right about everything. Elsa was afraid. She feared the repercussions, but with Anna's confession laid bare before her, she found she no longer cared.

Her hands reached for Anna once again: one hand found her waist, the other hand found her neck, and she crushed their lips together. This was nothing like the tender kiss from before. Anna's back fell against the locked door. Anna tasted like everything she had imagined. Sweet and tangy and Elsa found herself unable to pull away. Her lips matched with Anna's rosy ones perfectly, finding a rhythm and savoring her flavor.

A moan built in her chest and she couldn't hold it in. Elsa could feel Anna smiling against her lips, and she used the opportunity to slide her tongue in the younger girl's mouth. She dove in, her tongue wrestling with Anna's, little purrs escaping the back of Anna's throat. Anna lifted a knee in between Elsa's legs, causing the older girl's eyes to roll back as she released a gasp.

The redhead moved her lips to the side of Elsa's face, leaving a trail of wet kisses down her jaw. She nibbled on Elsa's earlobe, causing the blonde to release another groan.

"Anna," the name drawled out of Elsa's lips. Anna's fingers were inching their way into Elsa's white coat, gently tugging out her blouse, and raking fingernails over her bare skin. Elsa shuddered.

Anna, never one for much patience, flipped their positions, pinning Elsa against the door, but the blonde didn't really seem to care. Their lips met together again and again. Elsa's mind was wonderfully blank. It always ran endlessly, a thousand thoughts all vying for her attention, but now, the only thing that mattered was the woman in front of her. The girl connecting with her in so many alluring ways.

"Oh god Anna," she moaned, as Anna again nibbled on her earlobe. And then it abruptly stopped. Elsa opened her eyes and looked at Anna.

"-I said you have to go."

_What?_

The overhead speaker beeped. "Code Blue, seventh floor CCU, room 710. Dr. Casimir, CCU, room 710."

_Shit._

She cast Anna an apologetic look and flew out the door. Elsa tucked her shirt back in, desperately trying to smooth her clothes out as ran. Luckily, the flushing on her face could be explained away by her sprint to get to the CCU. But her face! Her make up was probably a mess. Making a last minute decision, she wiped her face on the inside of her coat, hoping that it would remove some of the lipstick or makeup that was no doubt smudged.

Within seconds she saw the familiar double doors and crashed through them. Nurses were running in and out of one room, and Elsa knew that was her destination. When she got to the room, the rest of the code team was already there.

A nurse was already administering chest compressions, another holding a breathing mask over the man's face. She looked around to find out how she fit in this situation. She didn't want to interrupt the team already working. But she was having a hard time focusing. Another nurse was clearing the patient's IV line. Blue scrubs were blurring into the white coats. The noise was cacophonous; she was starting to lose it.

_ELSA!_ _Get your shit together now!_

The body below her had taken a different shape now. It was no longer the middle-aged balding man with a paunch, but now a handsome young man, loose auburn hair falling around his face.

_NO!_

She looked at the monitor. The ECG was completely abnormal. Instead of the jagged lightning bolt she was used to, it was just a zig zag line all the way across.

_I can do this. I'm in control again._

"V fib! He's in V Fib! Where's the defibrillator?!"

"I got it Elsa!" the cart wheeled in front of her and she picked up the two handles. In each hand were paddles that looked like square air hockey mallets. "Charge it!"

"Gel," she shouted, and someone squirted a clear gel on the paddles. Elsa put one paddle on the man's upper right chest, and the other on his lower left chest.

"On three! Everyone clear!" she looked around, making sure everyone was no longer in contact with the man. She counted down and pressed the buttons on the paddles. At once, the man's torso contracted upwards, falling back immediately.

"Five breaths!" she commanded to the nurse who had been administering CPR. She looked back at the screen above her. The machine was beeping rapidly. The tiny zig zag from earlier had grown to a large zig zag, indicating a change, though not a good one. She readied her paddles.

"No good! He's still in tachy! I need Epi! Shock on three!" she looked around again. "Everyone clear!"

She pressed the buttons again, and the man looked like he was being pulled up from the chest. He dropped back down.

"Breathe him!" she yelled to the CPR nurse again. _Come on._

Elsa stared at the ECG screen. The whole room was waiting for direction.

Finally, the line on the screen resumed a normal rhythm, beeps coming evenly apart. The man's heart was beating regularly. She looked back towards his face. Gone was the young man, his face replaced by the older man it should've been all along. _Thank god._

"Let's package him! I want amiordarone!" The room bustled back to life; everyone knew their role and jumped to accomplish their assigned tasks.

"Keep O sats above 94%," she yelled to no one in particular. "Monitor glucose as well!"

"What happened here?" she turned to Oaken.

"Well you know Miss Elsa, Mr. Finnegan has Stage IV heart failure and-" he abruptly cut off when a hand was each placed on Elsa's and Oaken's shoulder.

"I got this Els," Flynn appeared, "go take a breather." She nodded, grateful for the respite. Collapsing into a nearby chair, she let out deep sigh. Codes were draining. They took all of her focus. Elsa was always emotionally exhausted afterwards. _The cost of caring, _she supposed.

_And he was there again. _She shook her head, clearing the vision of the brown-haired man on the table. _He's always there when my emotions run all over. What was I even doing before this?_

_ANNA! _

Her eyes flashed open. The younger girl was still waiting for her. As quickly as she could without drawing attention, Elsa returned to her office. The clicking of her heels on the floor only made her walk quicker.

What was she going to say? Where was this going? The repercussions could bring the whole department crashing down. Elsa's walk slowed to a crawl. Was she willing to risk everything for this girl she hardly knew? There was no doubt that she was attracted to Anna, that she wanted all of Anna, but was she willing to lose her job for it? Lose her grant?

She opened the door to her office. "Anna?" No answer. She looked down and saw Anna sleeping, chest gently rising and falling. Remembering Anna's words from earlier, Elsa's chest swelled.

"_I'm yours, if you want me."_

_Yeah, I think she's worth it._

* * *

**_First off, I apologize for the delay. Life gets in the way. Maybe this isn't the fairytale you expected, but sometimes love is all ass backwards. Sometimes you get the destination before the journey. I may or may not use that quote in future chapters. :D Thanks for reading and reviewing as always._  
**


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